Bunnie Xo shared why she and her husband, Grammy-winning artist Jelly Roll, hope to welcome twins.

The Dumb Blonde podcast host and Stripped Down: Unfiltered and Unapologetic author talked about hoping to welcome twins via surrogate when she caught up with E! News in an interview shared on Wednesday (February 18). Twins would join Bailee Ann, 17, and Noah Buddy, 9, Jelly Roll’s two children from previous relationships. During the conversation, the celebrity news hub asked whether Bunnie Xo felt any “pause or uncertainty” about raising children again?

“No, because I’ve never got to experience motherhood from any standpoint except for what I have with Bailee,” she replied. “But from the baby stage, I never got to experience that. Neither has my husband because he hasn’t been with the women that he had babies with, so he (had) to miss out on a lot of the baby moments. And you know, my husband and I, we planned on being empty nesters. And we were like, ‘oh, we’re going to travel here,’ and ‘we’re going to do this. We might get a yacht.’ …Raising Bailee has showed me that I can do this and, you know, that’s my girl. I might not be her birth mother, but that’s my baby.”

Bunnie pointed out that Bailee, a “smart kid” with a 4.0 GPA, is about to leave for college. Raising her “just gave me the confidence to know, ‘hey, maybe I can do this.’ So, I went to my husband one day and I was just like, ‘do you want to have a baby?’ And he was like, ‘yes, I’d like to.’ So, I was just like, I couldn’t believe that, you know, he wanted to have babies, too,” Bunnie Xo said. “He added the ‘two’ on because he doesn’t want the single one to grow up with only child syndrome. So, he’s like, ‘if we do this, we’re going to have two.’”

During her E! News interview, Bunnie Xo also shared updates on her IVF journey. She said “it’s going,” but “it is a hard, hard journey. …My hat goes off to any woman who has to do IVF. They are warriors. I’m so proud of you. You know, I just — I can’t wait to share with the world our journey, but it’s going to be a while before I open up.”

Bunnie Xo, 46, revealed in her book that she and Jelly Roll, 41, “have a surrogate, the sweetest woman ever, and soon I’ll be starting my IVF stims. …I’ve waited this long to have kids with someone I knew would be a great father—and to be able to make sure they have the best life. …With how much IVF has advanced over the years and with the help of the most unselfish woman willing to carry twins for us, we’ll be able to make our baby dreams come true.”

Jelly Roll previously opened up about he and Bunnie “talking about having a baby” when he appeared on an episode of Bussin’ With The Boys in June 2024. Bunnie shared a clip from the podcast on TikTok, and said, “God willing, Baby DeFord 2026.”

Bunnie Xo, whose real name is Alisa DeFord, said during an appearance on TODAY with Jenna & Sheinelle that she hadn’t always wanted children of her own, but raising Bailee “changed my mind.” She said her stepdaughter is “a younger version of me. …My biggest fear of having children of my own was inflicting trauma on them, unwanted trauma on them, especially because of what I went through as a child. And being able to raise Bailee, I looked at her and I’m just like, ‘you know what, I might be able to do this with my own.’”

“I think what these babies are going to get from J and I is more childlike parents because when we had Bailee, we were both getting sober,” Bunnie Xo told E! News when asked what excites her about the next chapter. “We were evolving. We were growing, you know. We grew with Bailee, and I think this next set of children for us are going to get the kid versions of us and we’re going to get to live our childhoods through them.”

Jelly Roll is among the country artists nominated at the 2026 iHeartRadio Music Awards, returning this spring to Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, California. See the list of country artists nominated here.

Like in years past, iHeartRadio is letting the fans choose the winners in several new and established categories. Fan voting will determine this year’s Favorite Broadway Debut, Favorite TikTok Dance, Favorite Debut Album, Best Lyrics, Best Music Video, Favorite On Screen, Favorite Tour Photographer, Favorite Soundtrack, Favorite Tour Style, Favorite Tour Tradition and Favorite K-pop Collab. Social voting begins on January 8th, and will close on March 19th at 11:59pm PT for all categories. Fans can vote by visiting iHeartRadio.com/awards.

Tune in to see which artists will take home an iHeartRadio Music Award on Thursday, March 26th at 8pm ET live (PT tape-delayed) on FOX. The show will also be broadcast on iHeartRadio stations across the country and on the iHeartRadio app.

Ian Munsick

with ERNEST and Ned LeDoux