Jelly Roll's surprising career move following divorce from Bunnie Xo revealed

Jelly Roll’s next career move has been announced shortly after the world received news of his divorce.

The country star, 41, will be stepping in as host of Jimmy Kimmel Live while host Jimmy Kimmel takes a two-month hiatus. 

On a recent episode of the late-night show, Kimmel shared that he would be taking a “voluntary” two-month break from the show, poking fun at the time ABC pulled the show over controversial comments he made. 

The comedian assured fans that the show will still be going ahead in his absence, with a “potent group of hosts” lined up to fill in for him. 

“Beginning with Tiffany Haddish, Coleman Domingo, Ike Barinholtz, Anthony Anderson, Jelly Roll – and as a special treat for our commander-in-chief, I asked one of his all-time favourites, Rosie O’Donnell, to be here to keep the hooks coming,” Kimmel said. 

This won’t be the first time that Jelly Roll, whose real name is Jason Bradley DeFord, will sit behind the host’s desk at the El Capitan Entertainment Centre, previously having stepped in for Kimmel for a two-episode run in July, 2025. 

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How Jelly Roll hinted at marriage breakdown weeks before Bunnie Xo divorce news

News of DeFord’s divorce broke on June 16, when multiple US outlets cited that the star had quietly filed for divorce on May 10 in Williamson County, Tennessee.

Within days, both DeFord and his wife of nearly 10 years spoke out on the matter.

Bunnie Xo, whose real name is Alyssa DeFord, first discussed the divorce on an episode of her Dumb Blonde podcast, claiming that it was not a mutual decision.

She shut down the rumours of infidelity and revealed that the pair had had a heated argument where, in the midst of things, she had told him to “file the divorce papers”. The pair allegedly had not been speaking for several weeks when the divorce papers were filed.

Hours later, DeFord addressed the news mid-performance while on stage in Saratoga Springs, New York.

“While we’re talking about liars, the internet is a liar too. This is the only time and the only city I’m going to speak about this, so break your camera phones out now,” he 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.

“Nobody cheated on nobody. She just did a whole podcast about it. You can go watch it, every word of it is the truth.”