Jelly Roll Opens Up About His Daughter
Jelly Roll opened up and talked about his 16-year-old daughter Bailee in the new cover story of People Magazine out this week. Jelly recalled where he was at 16 years of age, the age she is now. He sees big potential in her.
Jelly recalled a recent conversation the father/daughter had, “[I said], ‘I don’t judge you based on what you do. I judge you based on what I know you’re capable of. You’re so much smarter than I was at 16. You’re so much better, so much more emotionally intelligent. You can read a room so much better. So don’t try to talk your way out of getting in trouble, Miss Sassy, by weaponizing my past.'”
Jelly went on to say that when he looks at what she does that he considers “horrible,” he looks back at what he was doing at 16, and he’s like, “‘Oh man…’ When I’m hard on her about stuff or a little pushy, she knows it’s from love.”
The country star said that he and his daughter remain close, and she was by his side earlier this month when he performed at the 2024 CMA Awards. Jelly was behind bars when Bailee was born and has said that her birth was a turning point in his life.
He noted, “We were really, really close before [my career] exploded, but she understands what it’s doing for her future and the family’s future.”
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In the same cover story interview, Jelly talks about his 40+ times in jail over the years and the fact that some people in his life just will not forgive him for his past transgressions.
Jelly told the publication, “I’m rounding third on my amends list, and I think when I get there, I’ll feel a little better. I was hitting some stone walls with people that wouldn’t forgive me, and I was like, ‘God, maybe this has something to do with the fact [that] I haven’t forgiven myself either.”
Jelly says that while talking about his past in interviews, he’s often forced to “brush over 10, 12, 15 years of living an extremely crazy, narcissistic, selfish lifestyle” to condense it into a quick soundbite. he knows that it goes deeper than that.
He says that the truth is that “there was a lot of pain in there,” and he knows he “hurt a lot of people.” He notes that no matter how much he’s changed, “they still watch and are mad that I’m successful.” Jelly says he understands that, noting that he’s “doing better at letting go of the past.”
Jelly makes sure to pay his success forward and recently donated pre-orders of his latest album, Beautifully Broken, to four different charities, raising more than $1 million.
