Celebrity News February 16, 2026
Bunnie Xo Talks Past as an Escort, Says Jelly Roll ‘Always Just Loved Me’ (Exclusive)
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Bunnie Xo is getting candid about her life before the fame and fortune with her Grammy-winning husband Jelly Roll, sitting down exclusively with “Extra’s” Terri Seymour ahead of the release of her book, “Stripped Down: Unfiltered and Unapologetic."
She shared, “I've been in so many situations where I shouldn't be alive, so I always tell people, ‘I definitely have nine lives, easily.’"
Before she became Bunnie, she was Alisa DeFord who at 14 was a homeless teen in Vegas. She's battled drug addiction, escaped domestic abuse by an ex, and worked as an escort before turning her life around. Her story of survival is laid bare in her raw tell-all memoir.
Bunnie said, “It's just such a release to finally get it out into the world, because now I can close those chapters and never have to look back."
Terri told her, “You've always been so honest and transparent about your life — where does that honesty and bravery come from?"
Bunnie replied, “I grew up around a lot of people who hid behind lies and a lot of people I didn't want to be like, and as a young child I just couldn't stand when people would pretend to be something that they weren't... And nobody could take that from me. So, I just always kind of wore it as a like a badge of honor, like, ‘This is me. If you don't like it, I don't care.'"
Terri noted, “You write so honestly about your work as a sex worker and an escort… what do you think are the biggest misconceptions people have about you when they hear that or now they're going to read about that?”
“I don't want anybody to think that I glamorize that lifestyle,” she said. “I never want to talk down about being in sex work, but at the same time, it was a means to an end and I was in survival mode.”
Terri asked, “Even when you met Jelly, you were an escort?”
Bunnie said, “Yes,” adding of how their relationship worked, “A lot of people do not understand our relationship, and my husband saved me because he let me be myself. He never tried to save me. He never tried to come in and be like, ‘You can't do this. You need to change who you are.' He always just loved me where I was at and the way that he loved me made me want to change for him.”
The star went on, “It was wild in the beginning. You know, he would be on tour and I would book dates while he was on the road and he just always respected what I did as a hustler and I always respected what he did, and we both have never tried to change each other. So, for that, I'm thankful, but sometimes I look back on that and I'm like, ‘Nobody is gonna understand this. It's crazy.'”
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View StoryShe also explained how their marriage is “free, but not open."
“It's completely closed now, in case anybody wants to know,” Bunnie said. “When we first got together, coming from the background that I came from of watching preachers cheat on their wives, watching politicians cheat on their wives, I mean, watching my own father not be able to have a solid relationship. My husband was raised in a home where... we were not taught how to love properly.”
She went on, "We didn't know, so when we first came into the relationship, I think a way for us trying not to get hurt if the other one did something, because we were two wild hyenas. We just said, ‘Hey, look, if you're out on the road and you meet somebody, just tell me about it. I don't want to find out about it later.' It wasn't like we were swingers… putting pineapples out on your doors. It was just more fluid, like… 'We don't believe in monogamy right now so, you know, if there's something that you want, just be honest about it.’"
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View StoryNow happily married for nearly a decade and raising Jelly’s son and daughter, Bunnie and Jelly are hoping to have a baby.
Terri said, “Tell us about your IVF journey,” and Bunnie replied, “I will tell you that we will have a baby… We're excited. We both have baby fever.”
She promised, “I will bring the baby back to see you one day. I will, I promise. Aunt Terri. We need an aunt.”
“Stripped Down: Unfiltered and Unapologetic" is out Tuesday.