Published by Cel Manero from Global One Media Inc.
During an appearance on his wife Bunnie Xo’s Dumb Blonde podcast, the country singer shared, “I realized the phone doesn’t help me become any of the things I truly want to be.”
Jelly Roll might be a bit slower to respond to messages next year, thanks to his decision to ditch his phone.
In the December 16 episode of his wife Bunnie Xo’s Dumb Blonde podcast, the “Son of a Sinner” singer opened up about managing stress, which might involve taking a break from technology.
“I can confidently say I won’t have a phone at all in 2025,” Jelly, 40, shared with his wife of eight years. “I’ve mentioned this in interviews all year — if the [Beautifully Broken Tour] goes as I hope, I’m going to throw my phone off the Shelby Street Bridge.”
At one point, Jelly even instructed his driver to take him to the Cumberland River.
“At one point, I was getting hundreds of texts every day, and it just became too much,” he admitted. “When I finally tried to catch up on them, I felt terrible for missing so many. It started to weigh on me, and that guilt was consuming me. This phone was causing me so much guilt.”
Jelly Roll shared that even though his loved ones understand his busy lifestyle, he still feels guilty about missing messages.
Bunnie, 44, pointed out that Jelly has a history of getting rid of his phones. “My husband has thrown phones away,” she said, noting that people sometimes reached out to her to contact him. “I’ve had the same number for almost a decade, and my husband has had about 17.”
Jelly then revealed that he plans to use a “flip phone” next year, explaining, “It’s healthier for me. I used my phone as a way to dissociate too.”
He continued, “I’d see so many missed messages and it would get too overwhelming to check. To avoid it, I’d just mindlessly scroll or get caught up in news alerts. We’d become big news stories, and I’d get sucked into that.”
The “Need a Favor” singer emphasized that avoiding text messages doesn’t make him a better person. “I want to be a better husband, father, human, and artist,” he said.
“I realized the phone doesn’t help me become any of those things,” Jelly concluded.
“We’ve had this rule for fourteen days from the start,” he explained. “We actually just applied the same rule to our 16-year-old daughter, Bailee.”
He continued, “We realized we were going one or two months without seeing her, and I thought, this just needs to be about family.”