Why Jelly Roll Was Late to Grammys 2026 Red Carpet

And by his side, of course, was wife Bunnie Xo, who said she'd long seen this moment coming for her husband.

"I think behind every man is a woman that's pushing him," she said. "We were talking about it in the car on the ride here. We're just like, this is such a crazy, twisted fairy tale. And he's like, 'I never saw this.' And I said I did."

Jelly's wife of almost 10 years added, "Because when I saw the first night I met him, the first thing I said to him was, 'You're special.' And I meant it."

For her part, Bunnie—real name Alisa DeFord—stunned on the red carpet in her own red, lacy dress.

Also on display, beyond Jelly Roll's gratitude, was his physical transformation, which has seen the "Wild Ones" singer lose more than 200 pounds in recent years. 

“The biggest change I made was food,” he exclusively told E! News at the premiere of Netflix’s Star Search on Jan. 20. “Man, I was on the brink of death. I'm not trying to stand on a soapbox, I'm just passionate about it, knowing how upside down our system is with food. And as an addict, it was hard for me to get away from it, so I did a lot of work with food.”

But overall, Jelly Roll—who is dad to kids Bailee Ann, 17, and Noah, 9, from previous relationships—is clear that it was Bunnie and his kids who were his biggest inspiration and motivation amid his health journey. 

“Every part of me that gets better is just another attempt to be a better husband and a better father,” he said. “Losing the weight was the next part of that, but I still gotta find a way to be a better husband and a better father tomorrow. So I gotta keep evolving.”

And his journey began with a single step—literally. After realizing some of the ways his weight had been negatively impacting his family, including not being able to throw a football around with his son, Jelly Roll promised to go on his first walk.

"I'm done lying to y'all and I'm done lying to me,” he recalled telling his family on the Dec. 10 episode of the Joe Rogan Experience podcast. “I told y'all I was going to go do this walk and I'm going to do this walk."

And now, he’s strutting his stuff on the Grammys red carpet. For a full round up of every celebrity's looks, read on.