Jelly Roll found out that he was going to become a dad while incarcerated.
“A guard knocks on my cell door mid-afternoon during lockdown. He goes, ‘You had a kid today,’” the country singer told Billboard in June 2023, referring to his 2008 prison sentence for a drug conviction. “I’ve never had nothing in life that urged me in the moment to know that I had to do something different. I have to figure this out right now.”
Jelly Roll was released from jail nearly two years later, eventually being granted primary custody of Bailee. Jelly Roll, who also shares son Noah Buddy with an ex named Melisa, married Bunnie Xo in 2016 after one year together.
Amid her relationship with Jelly Roll, Bunnie helped him care for Bailee.
“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 further told Billboard of Bunnie. “I would have never got custody of my daughter without her. I wouldn’t have had the stability or the money.”
Keep scrolling to get to know Jelly Roll’s daughter:
Who Is Bailee Ann’s Mom?
Jelly Roll shares Bailee with ex Felicia Beckwith, who ultimately lost custody due to her drug addiction.
“My child’s mother has struggled with drug addiction since my daughter’s been born pretty much,” the “Save Me” singer said on “The Pivot” podcast in March 2025. “I’ve seen the effect that it’s had on [Bailee]. … The addict is not the victim in that situation. The family is. The addict is too, obviously. They are a victim of their disease.”
That same year, Beckwith was arrested for drug possession.
“It broke my daughter’s heart,” Jelly Roll said of Beckwith’s arrest. “This is a 17-year-old that knows her mother is a drug addict, but, like, her having to see the mugshot of her mother … I’m 40, and I’ve done a lot of therapy, and I’ve done a lot of work, and I have a relationship with God that it hurt me, but I just got to pray about it and move on. I was like, ‘Ah, man, she’s 16, she don’t have any of those tools. She’s still gaining those tools. This hurts her.’”
Jelly Roll’s Custody Journey With Bailee
Jelly Roll was serving his prison sentence when he found out that Beckwith was pregnant.
“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,” Jelly Roll said on a March 2025 episode of the “Smartless” podcast. “ had to go to court, I had to get supervised visits through the courtroom. 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.’”
Jelly Roll was ultimately granted primary custody of Bailee after Beckwith’s addiction battle.
“As a teenager, I’ve moved on,” Bailee said in the Hulu documentary Jelly Roll: Save Me, which premiered in 2023, of her mother’s absence in her life. “I’ve worked through my childhood. But that doesn’t make it go away. It made me who I am today.”
Jelly Roll’s Daughter Bailee Graduated High School in 2026
Bailee graduated high school in May 2026, months after being named prom queen for her class.
“Today, you turned 18 years old and graduate high school. Today you accomplish something very very very few people in this family have ever accomplished, including myself,” he wrote via Instagram. “You are not only a high school graduate, you are soon to be a college student. When we talk about generational curses and breaking them, you literally are the epitome of that. You are kind, smart, caring, loving, adventurous, funny, sassy, honest. To put it plainly you were everything I have never been.”
Inside Jelly Roll’s Daughter’s Relationship With Bunnie Xo
After Jelly Roll married Bunnie in 2016, she became a prominent fixture in Bailee’s life.
“I just want women to know it doesn’t matter what age you are when you’re ready to be a mom, be a mom and when you’re able to be a mom, be the best mom that you can be,” Bunnie exclusively told Us Weekly in January 2026. “God, you know, gave me Bailee to do a run-through to make sure because my biggest fear was that I was always going to inflict trauma on my child like my parents did to me.”
The influencer continued, “I never wanted to have kids, and raising Bailee has really showed me that, ‘Hey, maybe I actually can do this.’ Granted, you know, everybody gets some sort of trauma in their life, whether it’s on purpose or not, but I think I might be able to crush this mom role.”
At the time, Bunnie and Jelly Roll were in the middle of a fertility journey to further expand their family.
Jelly Roll’s Daughter Addresses His Divorce From Bunnie Xo
Jelly Roll filed for divorce from Bunnie in May 2026, citing irreconcilable differences.
“I am disgusted at how invested everyone is in a very clearly private family matter. It’s fkn crazy,” Bailee wrote via TikTok weeks later, addressing her dad’s separation. “Go on somewhere yall. Worry ‘bout your house — not mine. I’m not speaking on it — yet.”
