Jelly Roll training for half-marathon amid social media weight shaming

Karu F. Daniels | New York Daily News

Country artist Jelly Roll is rolling into new terrain with his fitness journey and plans to go the full distance next year.

The Grammy-nominated singer, who left social media due to fat shaming, revealed that he’s gearing up to run a half marathon.

“I’m training as you can train, it’s an 18-month process,” he said in a new interview published Monday. “I want to do another couple 5Ks first, so the goal is to [run a] half marathon next fall.”

Jelly Roll completed his first 5K race at the Rose Bowl in Los Angeles on May 7.

“I couldn’t walk a mile when I started trying to do this back in January,” he told Entertainment Tonight, adding that he felt “really, really good” about finishing the untimed 2 Bears 5K. “I left here feeling really motivated.”

The “Son of a Sinner” singer, whose real name is Jason Bradley DeFord, has been open about his fitness regimen, sharing with his Instagram followers that he was “in the woods walking every morning” in a January video.

He also recently shared that he has lost 70 pounds on his fitness journey.

But with the good, comes the bad: Bunnie XO, his wife of eight years, shared that body shaming on social media made him abandon social media.

“My husband got off the internet because he is so tired of being bullied about his f—ing weight,” she said in an expletive-laden TikTok clip promoting her “Dumb Blonde” podcast. “That makes me want to cry, because he is the sweetest angel baby. My husband doesn’t show it to you guys, but I’m going to have a very vulnerable moment here. It hurts him.”

But fans will be able to engage with Jelly Roll during his upcoming Beautifully Broken Tour, hitting cities across the U.S. for two months in the early fall.

The “Halfway to Heaven” singer is scheduled to play three shows in and around New York City: Madison Square Garden on Sept. 27, USB Arena in Elmont, N.Y. on Sep. 28, and Newark’s Prudential Center on Sept. 29.

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