Inside the Jelly Roll & Bunnie Xo Divorce Announcement

In today's edition of the divorce no one saw coming, Val dissects the divorce announcement coming from Jelly Roll and Bunnie Xo. 

Does divorce impact public figures differently? Why do fans receive this news the way they do? Can we learn anything from their situation to help us navigate divorce better?

Let’s get into the subject of divorce, vigorously.

When anyone gets divorced, it’s a messy, uncomfortable moment that is filled with mixed emotions - and not just between the couple involved, but everyone else in their orbit too. 

If you or someone you know is struggling, contact 988 Lifeline.

Get more Val at https://valkleinhans.com/

Transcript

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Alright, we're gonna do this because we want to stay consistent, and I'm gonna do it in a Megadeth shirt, even though we're talking about jelly roll and bunny today. We we want to stay committed, so forgive me if the aesthetic looks off in any way. I just want to make sure that we have this and that we can spend a little time together this week. So that's when we're gonna do this episode. Really, when anybody gets divorced, it is messy, it is uncomfortable, and it is a moment that is filled with emotions. And not just between the couple involved, but everybody else in their orbit too. They're kind of casualties of war sometimes, if it gets that bad, it's hard to navigate. But if one couple is showing us how to do this differently, I do think it is Jelly Roll and Bonnie XL. Their recent divorce announcement does have me asking some questions. Does the topic of divorce or divorce itself does it impact public figures differently? Why do fans receive this news the way that they do? And can we learn anything from their situation to help us navigate divorce better? Let's get into the subject of divorce biggest. I was just as shocked as everybody else when I woke up the morning of June 15th, check TMZ, boom, Jelly Roll and Bunny XO are getting divorced. Now, it was a surprise to me because I like their story. I admire their transparency. I like watching them take on the world as a couple, really. They have built this empire that they have built together. I started to know who they both were at the same time. They've built solid careers, branding themselves, you know, as individuals and as a couple. They're just as well known for being together as they are for being a singer and a podcaster, respectively. We learned from this TMZ announcement that Jelly is the one who filed, and he did so in May. I mean, to me, everything looks solid, and I think that's how these things usually go when public figures are involved. And then all of a sudden, bam! Divorce announcement. This one hit because of how close their branding and their careers, how closely these two things are tied together. Bonnie has since put out a more detailed podcast episode about what happened, and we're gonna dive into that a little bit later. But I just wanted to give you a brief summary of what's going on and what happened in case you missed it first. So now that we have done that, let's get into more of the details and what she what each of them had to say about what's happening. In situations like a divorce announcement, I think it is especially important to listen to what's coming from the mouths of the couple involved directly. We can speculate all day, media can speculate all day, but to me, the couple involved is really where you're gonna get the most accurate depiction of what's going on. So let's take a look at each of their statements. Jelly's in the middle of touring right now, and generally he's kept his comments about this whole thing very brief. And he's actually laid them out on stage too. Thursday, June 18th, Jelly was on stage in Saratoga Springs, New York, and called the internet a liar and said, Me and my wife are best friends. We will always be best friends. I will love her. She will probably be the only woman I'll ever love the way I loved her. He adds, nobody cheated on nobody. And he did go on to support the podcast that he must have known was coming. It came that same day and said, She just did a whole podcast about it. You can go watch it. So this has been as much as Jelly has said about the matter so far. He probably doesn't want to distract too, too much from Tor, at least not any more than what this is already distracted from. So he's keeping everything pretty brief right now. Bonnie, on the other hand, went on to do what we would have expected her to do. She gave a very full statement and tons of details on her podcast at Dumb Blonde that same day, June 18th. And I ended up catching up the next Friday morning. The tea was piping on this episode. We learned multiple things from Bunny's podcast episode. First, we learned that there was an argument on Mother's Day that set this whole thing off, essentially. The D-word was thrown around. They've said it before. Apparently, it wasn't taken as seriously, but this time Jelly took it seriously. He's the one that filed. She goes on to mention that the IVF journey has been a very big challenge for them as a couple. And I cannot imagine the pain endured after losing four embryos. I'm pretty sure she went on to say that there was a loss of four embryos at some point throughout this process for them. I can't even comprehend or fathom having to cope with that multiple times. So I have no doubt that this was especially real and hard for them. I mean, this whole process, if you haven't done it, from what I understand, hormones are crazy. Okay, for both of them at this time. That doesn't help. And you're having to go through the grieving process multiple times too when things aren't successful. So it's I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. I can't imagine how painful that must be and how hurtful it is. Bunny also went on to clear up the Chad Kroger, the nickelback, that whole situation, that TikTok. She went on to explain that yes, even though she posted a video where she's mouthing along to how you remind me. By the way, this is not something we wouldn't expect Bunny to do. Bunny has done this in various forms before. Bunny is a self-proclaimed nickelback and creed fan and just likes that era. So this was not surprising to anybody that had been following her for a substantial amount of time. But because this was posted, possibly, and I think, correct me if I'm wrong, I think in the podcast, she kind of hints at the fact that this post combined with the what hit TMZ, it might have all happened like within the same hour, is kind of how I interpreted that. Um just there were some lines crossed here. But she did use this as an example to say, look, she's not dating Chad Kroger. Okay, she did not cheat on Jelly with Chad. She was very clear about this, and she did not give that particular TikTok a second thought. And her theory is that the the timing of everything maybe is what led the internet to do what it does and connect all the dots. She also talks about, I mean, after bringing up the IVF journey, she does say Jelly and her are still planning on having a baby together. And I gotta tell you, all that made me a little nervous, but I'm not them. I'm not them. If to me, if somebody wants to be a parent so badly that they are willing to face pregnancy loss multiple times and still keep trying, they should be a parent. We're just gonna choose to trust that they will work all this out, custody, however that goes legally, yada yada yada. I'm just gonna say they're gonna work that out among them. And that's as much as I'm gonna say about it. And I hope that they do become the parents that they want to be. I genuinely do. It's hard. It's hard to be a parent today. If they want it that badly, I want it for them. That's where I'm gonna leave it. This was kind of where things get a little bit weird, too. She says that Jelly is dating, and her DMs are open. Hey boys. But but Jelly's already dating. And yet she is ultimately still ride or die for him. Stronger woman than me. I wouldn't be able to do that after some of the other somewhat more graphic things that she explained, and go go listen to the episode if you want more. But uh I I don't know. I don't know. That would have been hard for me, but she seems to want to stay. They have already somewhat agreed on how to divide assets. Now it wasn't clear if she, to me, it wasn't clear anyway, if she was referring to the ranch or compound that they have now, or if they're building a new one. I thought maybe I got that from some of what she said. I wasn't totally sure. But regardless, Bunny's getting a compound, and all the animals, if that if you follow her, you know, in love, s'more, crunch, chachi, they're all fine. And they're gonna go with Bunny and they're gonna stay with Bunny at this compound. So everybody's okay as far as that goes. This is something else that I paid attention to as well. Bailey, Jelly's daughter, who just turned 18 last like last month, I think. She's not thrilled with either parent right now. Bunny actually goes on to say this, and I I get it. I get being angry. I've been that kid. I am a child of divorce. And I've said before that divorce sucks because it doesn't only impact the couple involved, it impacts everybody around them. And I'll get more detailed on this, but yeah. Don't forget, Bunny has been a stable presence in Bailey's life. I mean, if you again, if you follow the family, you know this. So this is especially painful for Bailey, I would imagine. Bailey, like I said, is 18 now, so I don't think there's a custody conversation here for obvious reasons. But for Bunny's part, and I'm I'm paraphrasing, she says that she is letting Bailey come to her when she's ready to process all of this, and when she's oh, you know, ready to have those hard conversations, and when she's ready, she will receive her with open arms. And what I found especially interesting was that both Jelling and Bunny have since still continued to call each other their best friend. Which makes me think, even if maybe emotionally they're not there yet, or maybe they are, I'm not gonna know. It does tell me that they're at least trying to keep things as amicable as possible and make the whole legal process as easy as possible, too. They seem to accept where they're at, and I think that's where we need to get as fans. Here's some of my takes on this. Firstly, Bunny's podcast episode was very important because it did quell a lot of worry and a lot of speculation and nipped a lot of that in the bud. Smart of these two is a couple to coordinate how they handled this and good on them for handling it the same week that the announcement came out. Because to let it go on any longer, I mean, who knows where that energy would have went. But I think because they addressed it quickly, it didn't get too by hand. At least, you know, if people say things in the comments, but I I feel like it could have been worse. And I think addressing this early was good for the both of them. I'm also glad that I'm hearing Bunny say she's giving Bailey her space right now. I mean, my parents separated when I was 16, and they went through the whole divorce process when I was 18. So I completely understand this being a lot for her to process right now, and I applaud Bunny for being the adult in the situation and telling the public to leave her alone, and really for letting Bailey come to her whenever she's ready. Because I think this is where fan behavior can get weird. Some are already, and I know some of them might mean this in a joking manner, but there's some of the choosing sides happening in the comments. Again, I know some of them think they're being funny by I'm going with mom, that, that whole thing. But for real, we've gotta let these we've gotta let this couple work out all of this without excess noise. I think it'd be nice to do that. I say let's give them their space and consider healthy boundaries. Let it let's not ask them for more information than they've already given us. Let's not make it about taking sides. Let's just simply stay following whoever it is you want to follow. Keep it cool. It's not an airport, you do not need to announce your departure, it does not need to get deeper than that. We don't need to be louder than that. Period. And definitely leave Bailey alone. Yeah, she's 18 and she's the daughter of a public figure, but a reasonable a reasonable person understands that's young. 18 is still very young, so let's let her go through what is, I'm sure, an already painful experience with some grace and some space. Divorce sucks for the couple involved, and it does suck for everybody around them. This is not an easy thing for the average person to navigate, and I cannot imagine that it's any easier for a public figure to endure it either. But if you have to go through it in the public eye, I think Jelly and Bunny have shown us how this can be done amicably, quickly, realistically. Because when we look at the Jelly Roll and Bunny XO divorce announcement, there's some takeaways here, there's some lessons learned here. We've learned some things that really anybody in this situation can apply. And I know it's not a super common situation, so what I'm really saying is divorce in general. If you're going through it, there's some things that you can pick up from this. I mean, I think we learned that addressing the issue head on and doing so in a timely and coordinated manner is important because it just overall keeps the temperature down on the whole thing. Think about it. Once us fans got the information, we said, all right, cool, they're okay, so I can be okay, and I don't need to get that extreme about this. We get so extreme about a number of different things today, and we're almost like encouraged to, which I actively try not to. But the fires are amplified, and I don't I don't know that we want to add this to that list, is all I'm saying. I can see people applying these concepts if they're going through a divorce, like when they let their friends' groups know, their coworkers, their family. Same thing. A coordinated, timely addressing of the announcement can really only have the same effect on them, too. You know, if they see that you're not worried, they don't have to worry. But please, if you are worried and you are struggling, do say something, do talk to someone, do take the steps necessary to get some help working through this because it's hard on anybody. Anybody going through this finds this difficult. You wouldn't be immune, nobody would expect you to be. It's tough. So if you're really stuck, please, yeah, get help. I think we learned that you can go about divorce amicably if you want to. And I hope that their example shows everybody that you can. You're never really prepared for a divorce. You don't know how it's gonna impact you or the people around you until you're going through it. That's the only way that you're gonna know. I mean, that there's things that I didn't imagine I'd have to adjust to when it happened in my family. I mean, there isn't a part of them that doesn't suck. But there are some steps that I think you can take them to make the whole process a little bit easier on yourselves as a couple and on the loved ones around you. When my parents divorced, I knew that it was ultimate, you know, yes, at first it was a surprise, but eventually I came to learn that it was ultimately the right thing for them as a couple to do. But I definitely did not anticipate all of the adjustments that would have to come with a divorce and how that would impact me, our lifestyle, how we communicate with each family member. Holidays look different. Your whole stable routine or what you knew was stable, that is thrown off. The way that you speak to each other is individualized now. It's not a unit that changes. I mean, sometimes divorce means a move is involved, and divorce or not, a move is like one of the top most stressful things that you can endure as a person. It's like one of the top most stressful life experiences, and there's people who do it constantly, and I can't imagine doing it constantly because it's never been an easy thing for me when I've had to do it. But there's a lot going on when divorce happens. So to this, I will say, let's let these people do their thing, and let's focus on doing our thing. Remember that there's some things you can do to ease the pain, but it's okay if things still hurt, and there's outlets if you're hurting too. All the above, however, it impacts you. Don't expect to know. It's kind of I've heard people describe grief this way too, where it just kind of comes in waves, and sometimes you don't know if you're gonna have a good day, bad day, whatever you want to call it. Sometimes I think divorce is like that too, because you're you're mourning the loss of what you recognized as a a unit. This is the best way I can describe it. And when the disillusion of that happens, it sh changes a lot. And your psychology, your your mental health definitely responds to that, and you have to take care of it. So I wish that you do. I I hope that you do. If this is something that's happening in your life right now, take care, take time, take patience, try, and understand that it's not an easy thing for anybody, so there's really no right or wrong way to navigate it. But if you have to go about it, I think maybe Jelly and Bunny have some ideas for us. Think about it. That's where I will leave you this week. We've got more coming next week. You have a good one. Bye.