Jelly Roll has always been an open book, but in an interview with The Hot Hits with Nic and Loren he digs into a chapter that even long time fans might not have fully grasped. After dropping more than 264 pounds, he says his entire world feels unrecognizable, not just physically, but emotionally, mentally, and spiritually.
The country rock crossover star didn’t sugar coat how drastic the shift has been. “I sleep better, I walk better… I talk better, I have more energy,” he said, rattling off a list of changes that sound almost unreal stacked together. But the bigger revelation came when he talked about who he used to be. “I’m nicer. I was a mean fat person. I was a cocky, arrogant, fat a**hole.”
It’s classic Jelly Roll, disarming honesty with a sting of humor, he even joked about people warning him he’d turn unbearable once he got fit. “Somebody said, ‘You’re going to get a six-pack and turn into a monster.’ I was like, ‘Nah… I’m actually becoming a better human. I don’t hate my life as much.’”
He doesn’t hide how dark things got before the turnaround, at his heaviest, even the simplest part of life, sleep, felt dangerous. “I had to sleep in a certain position because if I rolled one way, I’d choke on my spit,” he recalled. “It was really getting bad. It was affecting every part of my life. Not just some parts, every part. There wasn’t one part of my life that wasn’t affected. It was horrible, and I was just so sick of it.”
Jelly Roll’s journey has always been one built on resilience, addiction, incarceration, rebuilding his career from scratch, and turning personal wreckage into anthems people cling to. This latest chapter is another evolution, and he’s not pretending it’s glamorous or easy. It’s raw, uncomfortable, and deeply human, which is exactly why fans connect to him.
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