Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Jelly Roll told his fans in a 2024 Instagram video that he would be unrecognizable in 2025—and he is holding to that promise.
After dropping an incredible 200-plus pounds, the 40-year-old musician is turning heads and dropping jaws with his dramatic transformation. Jelly Roll’s weight loss has garnered significant attention and admiration from fans and loved ones alike.
On Big Night AHT in April, the singer-songwriter revealed that he had taken a big leap closer to the goal: “I started at 540 pounds and I was 357 pounds this morning…I’m gonna lose another 100 pounds and go skydiving with my wife in Sweden, baby.”
Five months later, on Sept. 15, 2025, Jelly Roll happily told fans that he “can fit in Louis Vuitton now” on an Instagram post showcasing his new figure. “Pray for my bank account,” he added.
In a TikTok video posted Sept. 28, his wife, Bunnie Xo, responded to fans’ comments praising her husband’s new “hotter” appearance. “He’s always had the same heart, he’s always had the same soul,” she wrote, adding, “You might miss out on the best love of your life by judging somebody by their weight.” She captioned the video, “I’ll forever be cheering him on no matter what weight he is.”
In a 2018 Instagram post, the “Dead Man Walking” singer revealed that he weighed over 500 pounds in 2015. (He does not know what his exact weight was, he explained, because this was the highest number on the scale of his doctor’s office.) “It was one of the most embarrassing days of my life,” he wrote, adding, “life-long is the day I start over and fight my life-long demon again.” This experience led him to lose over 200 pounds the following year.
Jelly Roll went on to list the activities he wanted to one day partake in, but couldn’t due to his weight. “I wanna sky dive, bungee jump, ride a bull, parasail, ride roller coasters, I want to LIVE a normal life and have a normal relationship with food,” he wrote.
Thrill rides and hobbies aren’t his only inspiration for dropping the weight. In a Dec. 16, 2024 episode of The Dumb Blonde Podcast, Jelly Roll shared he had set himself a clear goal for the coming years, saying, “I wanna be on the cover of Men’s Health by March of 2026.”
These struggles aren’t new for the “Son of a Sinner” singer, whose legal name is Jason Bradley DeFord. He explained in a 2022 interview on The Bobby Bones Show that his stage name refers to a nickname he had as a child because of his weight. “I was a little chubby kid,” he recalled.
Jelly Roll is not the only member of his family to be transparent about his weight-loss journey. Bunnie Xo, born Alyssa DeFord, who Jelly Roll married in 2016, has shared her personal struggles on her podcast The Dumb Blonde Podcast, detailing her journey microdosing GLP-1 medication Tirzepatide.
The “Save Me” singer, however, has chosen to embark on his weight-loss journey without GLP-1s, citing his fear of potential side effects. “A few things scare me more than acid reflux,” he said in an episode of The Dumb Blonde Podcast, adding that it could “rip the vocal cords.”
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