Jelly Roll Wasn’t Allowed to See His Daughter After Being Released From Jail: I Was a ‘Criminal’

Jelly Roll Claims Mother of His Daughter Would not Let Him See Her Once Released From Jail

Jelly Roll with daughter Bailee Ann. Jason Kempin/Getty Images

Jelly Roll revealed that he was not allowed to see his daughter, Bailee Ann, after being released from jail in 2008.

“I got home when she was almost 2. Her mother, at the time, wouldn’t let me see her, rightfully so, because I was a f—ing criminal,” he said on the Monday, March 3, episode of the “Smartless” podcast.

“I had to go to court, I had to get supervised visits through the courtroom,” Jelly Roll, 40, continued. “I had to step that very slow, build a relationship, then six hours on Friday evening but she had to be home before 10 p.m. You know, I just had to keep going to the court every six months and go, ‘Look, I’m continuing to prove I’m changing, I’m in college, I’m doing this.’”

He added, “Music, being famous, wasn’t even a thought then. I just wanted to be a dad. I just came home and wanted to focus on being a father. I was just building that.”

Of course, Jelly Roll’s story has a happy ending.

“Fast forward, that same little girl that was born when I was incarcerated is fixing to turn 17 years old,” he gushed. “She’s got one of the highest GPA at her high school, she’s a dual-enrollment kid, she’s a junior going to college. Me and my wife have had full custody of her for eight years.”

Jelly Roll and his wife, Bunnie XO, tied the knot in 2016, and were later granted primary custody of Bailee. (The musician is also father to 8-year-old son Noah Buddy, also from a previous relationship.)

Jelly Roll Claims Mother of His Daughter Would not Let Him See Her Once Released From Jail

Jelly Roll, Bailee Ann and Bunnie Xo. Amy Sussman/Getty Images for StagecoachThe country music star has been open about his past troubles with the law and repeatedly stated how the birth of his daughter encouraged him to turn his life around. In a September 2022 interview with radio show 105.7 The Point, Jelly Roll shared that he was in jail for dealing drugs when Bailee Ann was born in 2008.

“I could no longer be selfish. There was something that was solely relying on me,” Jelly Roll said at the time. “I knew that that was an important task. So I wanted to take it seriously. And I did. I take it very seriously to this day.”In a June 2023 interview with Billboard, the singer revealed that he was 23 at the time of Bailee’s birth while he was incarcerated.

“I’ve never had nothing in life that urged me in the moment to know that I had to do something different,” he said at the time. “I have to figure this out right now.”

Jelly Roll Claims Mother of His Daughter Would not Let Him See Her Once Released From Jail

Bailee Ann, Jelly Roll and Noah Buddy DeFord. Monica Schipper/Getty Images)

He also credited wife Bunnie for helping to get him full custody of Bailee, calling her a “beacon of change” in his life. “You’re talking about a woman that came in and took a child that was soon to be born and a child that [we were] soon to have full custody of,” he said. “I would have never got custody of my daughter without her. I wouldn’t have had the stability or the money.”

Along with being a father and musician, Jelly Roll has gone on to do charity work for incarcerated youth, including mental health and addiction support. He opened a recording studio in his previous juvenile detention center and donated preorder profits from his album Beautifully Broken to mental health and addiction charities.

“We were able to raise over a million dollars. The fans are incredible,” the Grammy nominee exclusively told Us Weekly in October 2024.

“One of the moments that changed me was when I stopped trying to be happy and started trying to be useful,” he told Us. “Finding purpose has made all the difference.