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Bunnie XO’s faith in God became her unshakable anchor during life’s darkest moments

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Bunnie XO is certain of one thing: faith pulled her through the darkest chapters of her life.

The “Dumb Blonde” podcast host and wife of Jelly Roll recently wrote a memoir, “Stripped Down: Unfiltered and Unapologetic.” In it, she lays bare her chaotic upbringing and the emotional highs and lows that defined her early years of her relationship with the singer-songwriter.

“I’m like a cat,” the 46-year-old told Fox News Digital. “I’ve had nine lives, and I genuinely feel like God has always had His hand on my life. He has always been there in some way, even when I wasn’t worthy of it, and even when I didn’t acknowledge Him. Even when I was doing things that were not what He would want me to do, He still always pulled me out of it.”

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“My mess became my message and my testimony,” she shared. “I truly feel like leaning on God is the only thing that got me through some of the situations that I put myself in.”

In her book, Bunnie describes how faith guided her through the darkest moments of her life, serving as a source of strength. She also recounts experiencing domestic violence in a past relationship and sexual assault.

When asked if she felt faith may have saved her life, she responded without hesitation, “100%.”

WATCH: JELLY ROLL REVEALS THE ONE THING THAT ‘STILL MAKES MY SKIN CRAWL’

“I feel like we all need something to believe in,” she explained. “If there was no hope in the world, the world would be worse off than it already is right now. And I think that faith gives people some sort of hope. I believe the power of Jesus is real. I’ve seen it. I’ve felt His hand.”

Bunnie admitted she hit rock bottom “a few times,” but said, “I never wanted to change.” In the book, Bunnie describes turning to pills, cocaine and alcohol to escape reality and numb the effects of trauma from her upbringing.

“I think it takes people a couple of times of hitting rock bottom before they’re like, ‘I am tired. I am sick and tired of being sick and tired,’” she reflected. “And I think after I finally had a moment to look around, I was like, ‘If I continue on this path that I’m on, I’m either going to end up dead or I’m just going to be another statistic of a Vegas working girl.’”

“I didn’t want that to be my life story,” she said. “I’ve never wanted to become my mother, and I was kind of following in her footsteps.”

Growing up, Bunnie, whose real name is Alyssa DeFord, was close to her late father but struggled to connect with her stepmother, People magazine reported. According to the outlet, her mother left when she was just three months old, and they didn’t reconnect until she was 22. Her mother died in 2022.

The outlet shared that Bunnie left home at age 14 and later endured an abusive relationship until meeting Jelly Roll at a 2015 concert in Las Vegas. The couple married in 2016.

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In the book, Bunnie described herself as a “coked-up bride” after Jelly Roll “had specifically asked me not to do blow before the wedding.”

“… I was just wired to rebel against anybody that told me no,” she told Fox News Digital. “… I’ve just always had that inner fire to not listen to direction or take direction well. It’s definitely hindered me in life because I was a rebel without a cause.”

“And I think that night we were just … I didn’t take him seriously. … I didn’t know my husband well enough to know that when he said something, he was serious about it. So it was more of me just kind of always doing what I had done.”

“If I got drunk, I would do a line of coke and take a Xanax,” she recalled. “I’m just thankful to still be here after mixing drugs like that for so long.”

According to People, Bunnie previously worked as a high-end escort and built a lucrative career in sex work before stepping away in 2020. She was also active on OnlyFans until 2023, the outlet shared.

WATCH: JELLY ROLL AND BUNNIE XO WALK THE RED CARPET TOGETHER AT THE 2025 ACM AWARDS

“… I am only telling my story, and I don’t mean to glamorize [sex work] in any way, because there’s nothing glamorous about selling your body,” she explained. “But when you’re in survival mode, you teach yourself ways to get through life … without, I guess, having guilt about things.”

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“… Now that I’m 46 years old, and I’m looking back at the 26-year-old me who had that mentality,” she continued. “I just want to give her a hug because I want to be like, ‘That wasn’t power. That was you pacifying the abuse that you had gone through and trying to find a way to empower yourself.’ It wasn’t really empowering to me.”

Today, Bunnie focuses on her career and family. She has been candid that sobriety didn’t come easy, sharing that becoming a better stepmom to Jelly Roll’s daughter, Bailee, was a major turning point in her decision to get sober.

“I think sobriety is a personal journey, and I feel like sobriety is different for every single person,” she explained. “It’s not black and white. For me, sobriety means that I can’t take Xanax. I don’t take any pills. I would never snort anything up my nose. I can’t even do nasal sinus cleanings now because I have PTSD from all the drugs I did.

“I stopped drinking in 2018, but I will have one once in a blue moon — we were in Rome, and I was very honest about it with the public. I drank a glass of wine when I was in Rome because I was just like, ‘Dude, I’m in Rome. I am going to drink a glass of wine.’ But that’s all I could take, a glass of wine.”

Bunnie stressed that sobriety could look different to many people, adding that her approach may not reflect other recovery journeys.

“Everybody has their own definition of [their sobriety journey]. Some people can’t have a glass of wine in Rome, and I respect that 100%. But for me, sobriety was a choice. … It’s probably been one of the most rewarding journeys that I’ve been on.”

“But at the same time, I always say to everybody, ‘Sobriety sucks because that’s when the real work begins.’ You start to feel the emotions that you used to push down or that you would numb with substances.”

Bunnie is now eager to see what the next chapter holds for her.

“I really hope that [my book] will touch anybody … and just let them know that it doesn’t matter where you came from. It doesn’t matter who told you you’d never amount to anything. If I can do it, you can certainly do it. I promise you.”

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White House faith advisor says Americans are leaving organized religion but not losing faith in God

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White House faith advisor Paula White-Cain shared an Easter message of hope and redemption while pushing back on data showing declining religious affiliation in the United States.

“Without a real relationship with God, I don’t know how people really make it. And He loves you, He wants you, He desires you, and He made a way to come to Him freely through His Son, Jesus Christ,” White-Cain said on Saturday’s “My View with Lara Trump.”

“I love that He said He came to give us life and life more abundantly. That’s the message. It’s a message of hope, a message of love, a message of forgiveness and a message of reconciliation and redemption,” she said.

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White-Cain’s remarks come as recent polling shows a drop in Americans who say religion is important in their lives and a rise in those who identify with no specific faith.

The apparent shift, she argued, reflects a move away from organized religion rather than a decline in belief, pointing to what she described as growing interest in faith among younger Americans and rising Bible sales.

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It’s not that most people are not believers or that they believe in God. In fact, atheists are less than 5%. It’s that they aren’t belonging as much, and our culture has changed,” she said.

White-Cain suggested a range of factors could be driving the decline in formal affiliation, including skepticism toward institutions and a desire for more authentic expressions of faith.

It means that they’ve dropped off of the institutions. Maybe it’s their denomination or what their parents grew up in, but they are connected to God,” White-Cain said, pointing to movements of young people pursuing faith and getting baptized.

“There are people that don’t like necessarily the restrictions or rigidity, and they’re looking in different places for authenticity and for purpose,” she said. 

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Islanders fire head coach Patrick Roy with four games left in the season amid playoff race

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The New York Islanders have fired head coach Patrick Roy despite being in a tight playoff race.

Islanders GM Mathieu Darche announced the change from Roy to Peter DeBoer, who was fired by the Dallas Stars in June 2025.

The move comes with just four games left in the regular season for the Islanders, who sit on a four-game losing streak entering Sunday. And the streak comes with seven losses in their last 10 games.

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As the NHL standings sit entering Sunday, the Islanders, who were once comfortably in position to reach the Stanley Cup Playoffs, sit third in the Metropolitan division with 89 points, which would give them a slot if the season ended today.

However, the Philadelphia Flyers (88 points) and Columbus Blue Jackets (88) are gunning for that third and final divisional spot in the few games remaining. As a result, the Islanders are making the surprise change in hopes DeBoer can get them into the playoffs over the next week.

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Roy’s exit comes after a loss where the Carolina Hurricanes, who already secured a playoff spot, out shot them 40-16 in a 4-3 loss for New York.

The Islanders are not the only NHL team making a change at head coach with just days left in the regular season. The Vegas Golden Knights axed Bruce Cassidy from his role, hiring veteran coach John Tortorella on an interim basis last week.

Like the Islanders, the Golden Knights (86) have the third and final position in their division, though the race is a bit more comfortable for Vegas with a five-point lead over the Los Angeles Kings.

But, while Tortorella is an interim move for Vegas, the Islanders are keeping DeBoer intact heading into the 2026-27 campaign.

DeBoer has been head coach of five different franchises over his extensive coaching career. He owns a career 662-447-152 record in 1,261 games with the Florida Panthers, New Jersey Devils, San Jose Sharks, Golden Knights and the Stars, who he led for the past three seasons before his firing.

DeBoer wasn’t with a team this season, but he’s stepping up for the opportunity to help turn the tides on Long Island, as the Islanders hope to make the playoffs after missing out the previous two seasons.

While DeBoer hasn’t coached this season, he was a part of Jon Cooper’s Team Canada staff for the Milan Cortina Olympics earlier this year.

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Retired F-16 pilot says rescued US airman’s survival in Iran highlights intense evasion training

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Downed over enemy territory and forced to evade capture, a U.S. airman’s survival highlights the high-stakes training that prepares pilots for the worst, a former Air Force fighter pilot said Sunday.

“As a F-16 fighter pilot, I’ll tell you that the last thing we do before we step to go fly a combat sortie is we brief up the CSAR mission and understanding what will happen if we have to get out of that aircraft,” Lt. Col. Dan Rooney told “Fox & Friends Weekend.”

“And we have a motto, ‘Stay ready so you don’t have to get ready,'” he said.

U.S. forces rescued a missing U.S. weapons system officer from a downed F-15E in Iran following a multiday search inside enemy territory as Iranian forces simultaneously searched the area.

The pilot, who also ejected from the jet in Khuzestan Province, was rescued Friday morning.

President Donald Trump touted the recovery mission as an “Easter miracle.”

Rooney said pilots undergo extensive survival and evasion training to prepare for worst-case scenarios, including being shot down behind enemy lines.

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“We are very prepared to escape and evade and set ourselves up in a position to get rescued,” he said.

In such situations, Rooney explained, downed airmen are trained to move quickly after ejection, avoid populated areas and remain as concealed as possible while awaiting recovery forces.

They are also trained to reach areas where rescue could be more easily achieved.

“Be small, be stealthy, get high, so you can be rescued,” Rooney said, describing the basic survival principles.

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Those tactics, he said, are critical in the hours and days immediately following ejection, when a downed airman is most vulnerable and must avoid detection while awaiting rescue attempts.

“It’s a race against time in these moments,” Rooney said.

“And thank God that we won that race,” he said.

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