The Moment
Jelly Roll walked into his kitchen feeling like a brand-new man. His beard of nearly a decade? Gone. His chin? Suddenly out in the open air after more than 200 pounds of weight loss.
His 17-year-old daughter, Bailee Ann, took one look at his freshly shaved face and reacted like every teenager who just watched a parent join a TikTok trend: pure panic mixed with uncontrollable laughter.
In a vlog on his official YouTube channel, the country-rap star (real name Jason DeFord) surprises his family with the new look. Bailee immediately backs away, covers her eyes, and tells him to ‘stay over there.’ Through tears and giggles, she blurts out the line that will now live forever on the internet: ‘I don’t like this. You look like a turtle!’
Jelly Roll admits on camera that the last time his face was fully shaved, he was ‘fresh out of jail.’ He jokes he is about to look like a Ninja Turtle, then does it anyway, revealing a slimmer face that even he seems a little shocked to see.
Fans flooded the comments with support, praising both his drastic weight loss and his decision to stop hiding behind the beard he once grew to cover a double chin.
The Take
I love a man who will risk his entire public image… for a joke on his teenager.
This is not just about a beard. It is about a guy who built a whole visual identity around being the big, tatted, bearded outlaw and then hit a point where he said, basically, ‘Let me see what my actual face looks like now.’
The internet loves to treat weight loss like a magic before-and-after flipbook, but this video shows the awkward middle chapter: the part where your body changes faster than your brain can keep up, and suddenly you are meeting your own jawline again like an old acquaintance.
Jelly Roll even admits in the vlog that one reason he grew the beard in the first place was because he was ‘so obese’ and wanted to hide his double chin. That is brutally honest and very on brand for him. He is not pretending this is some effortless glow-up; he is telling you he used facial hair like emotional Spanx.
Meanwhile, Bailee’s ‘turtle’ roast is exactly how teens show affection. If your 17-year-old is not lightly bullying you, congratulations, you are being ignored. Her reaction reads less like cruelty and more like shock: Dad looks different, Dad is recording, and the entire internet is about to see this too.
And credit where it is due: instead of getting defensive, Jelly Roll laughs along, leans into the Ninja Turtle comparisons, and keeps the focus on how far he has come. That is the metaphor here: shedding the beard like he shed the weight and the past life that came with it.
Think of it like renovating an old house. First you clear out the clutter (the weight), and then one day you finally pull down the heavy curtains (the beard) and realize, oh, this place has actual windows. It is the same house, just finally getting some light.
Receipts
Confirmed:
- In a vlog on his official YouTube channel posted in late November 2025, Jelly Roll shaves his beard for the first time in roughly a decade and surprises his family.
- Bailee Ann, 17, reacts with laughter and tears, tells him to ‘stay over there,’ and says, ‘I don’t like this. You look like a turtle,’ as seen and heard clearly in the video.
- Jelly Roll says on camera that the last time his face was shaved he was ‘fresh out of jail’ and jokes he might look like a Ninja Turtle.
- In the same vlog, he explains he started growing a beard because he was ‘so obese’ and wanted to hide his double chin.
- Across previous concert footage and social posts from October 2024 and early 2025, he has celebrated losing more than 200 pounds in total, including a milestone 100-pound drop he marked onstage.
Unverified / Not shown:
- His wife Bunnie XO’s full reaction to the shaved face; he references her but does not show it on camera.
- Exact starting weight or specific medical details related to his weight loss; he has discussed the journey in broad numbers, not clinical specifics.
Backstory (For Casual Readers)
If you are only vaguely aware of Jelly Roll as ‘that tattooed guy who keeps winning awards,’ here is the short version. He is a Nashville-born artist who blends country, rock, and hip-hop, and he has built a huge fan base by being painfully honest about his past: incarceration, addiction, poverty, and the long, messy climb out of all of it.
In the last few years, he has become a crossover star, pulling in country fans, rock fans, and people who just like a redemption arc. Along the way, he often appeared with a large frame and a heavy beard, which became part of his signature look. His relationship with his daughter Bailee, whom he welcomed from a previous relationship, has also been a big part of his story; they have appeared together at award shows, festivals, and in behind-the-scenes content that shows a softer, dad-next-door side.
Recently, he has been talking more about his health, shedding over 200 pounds and using his platform to show that change is possible even if your starting point is rough.
What’s Next
Do not be surprised if the clean(er)-shaven Jelly Roll era sticks around for a while. When someone makes a big physical change like this, it usually comes with a ripple effect: new wardrobe, new photoshoots, new stage energy, and yes, new internet nicknames. (He has already volunteered ‘Ninja Turtle,’ which frankly is smart branding for merch.)
I would keep an eye on three things:
- More candid content: He clearly knows fans love seeing the real, unpolished family moments. The Bailee reaction clip is meme-ready, and he is savvy enough to know it.
- Health talk with boundaries: He has already been open about losing more than 200 pounds, but you can feel him trying to shift the narrative from ‘look how much weight I lost’ to ‘look how different my life feels.’
- How he plays with image: The beard may come back; the point is that now it is a choice, not a shield. That shift in confidence tends to show up in music and onstage.
Underneath the jokes and the turtle memes, this whole moment is about a dad who is no longer hiding from his kid, his fans, or himself. He is walking into the kitchen, camera rolling, saying, ‘Here is my face. For real this time.’
And honestly? That might be the bravest makeover of all.
Sources
- Jelly Roll, full-length vlog on his official YouTube channel showing his first clean-shaven reveal in around a decade, published November 2025.
- Jelly Roll concert footage and social media posts from October 2024 and early 2025, where he discusses and celebrates passing 100 pounds and then 200 pounds of weight loss.
Join the Conversation
Have you ever seen a loved one after a big makeover and had that shocked, slightly horrified reaction first before the support kicked in, like Bailee did here?
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