Jelly Roll Opens Up About How Fatherhood Changed His Life and Forced Him To Quit Drugs

"You saying that shows me that you've never ... seen people have those rock-bottom experiences," Jelly Roll tells a reporter who said his story sounded like "something from a movie."

Jelly Roll is recalling the moment he quit drugs while he was in prison after his daughter Bailee Ann was born in 2008, and how impending father helped him make that turn.

While sitting down with The New York Times , the 39-year-old was asked about a statement he made in the past about becoming a parent in prison and if, prior to that personal turning point, he could have seen himself giving up drugs.

"I’m not sure," he said. "I'm learning to forgive myself for the decisions I made when I was that young. They were wrong and I knew they were wrong, and I was doing them with a sense of pride and excitement."

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"I was 15. I was so young," adding, "I don’t know what could have helped me, to be honest," he continued.

The "Save Me" singer was then probed by the journalist, David Marchese, for more information on the moment he found out he was going to be a father and made that sobriety decision, adding that fatherhood influencing Jelly Roll -- who's real name is Jason Bradley DeFord -- "sounds almost like something from a movie" and that "change is never quite so easy".

"I think that you saying that shows me that you've never been a part of that culture and never seen people have those rock-bottom experiences where they woke up and said, 'Today is the day I quit shooting heroin,'" the two-time Grammy nominee retorted.

"There is a lot of steps after that. They have to go to rehab. They have to detox. There was a lot of steps I had to change. So yeah, maybe the change wasn't dramatic but the decision was dramatic.'"

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Jelly Roll confirmed that his first experience with incarceration happened as a teenager.

"I got caught with a cannabis charge in Antioch and a pack of cigarettes as a juvenile," he said. "They cited me, and the cop trusted me to take the citation to my family and go to court. Which, of course, I didn't."

"So the police had to show up and haul me to jail. That was at 13. At 14, I think it was a schoolyard fight." He's previously said he went to jail 40 times for various offenses before turning his life around.

Along with Bailee, Jelly Roll is also the father to seven-year-old, Noah Buddy. He co-parents his kids with their stepmother, Bunnie XO .

The couple, who eloped in 2016, were granted primary custody of Bailee in the same year. On an episode of Bunnie XO's Dumb Blonde podcast, Bailee -- who lives with Jelly Roll and his wife -- opened up about her upbringing and shared that she and her mom, Felicia, are working to mend their relationship amidst her mom's recovery journey.

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