Jelly Roll is opening up about the difficulties he's facing as an artist with convictions as he tries launching an international tour.
Jelly Roll may be one of the biggest names in music at the moment, but that doesn't make him immune to some major struggles.
In a new sit-down with Jon Bon Jovi for Interview Magazine, the 39-year-old musician shared that as his team is working to take their act abroad for his millions of fans, they are encountering some difficulties due to his felony convictions.
"I'm so excited. We're figuring out the final pieces of some legal puzzles for me to get overseas," Jelly Roll told Bon Jovi, who responded with confusion. "Yeah. It's funny, America has finally agreed to let me leave and give me a passport, but some countries won't let me come because of my felonies."
Jelly Roll added, "We're working on that. I think it's going to work in my favor."
According to PassportsAndVisas.com, most charged and accused felons are able to obtain a passport, but there are certain restrictions in place under special circumstances. It's also well within a country's right to deny entry to a U.S. felon. -- this includes major forces like Canada and the United Kingdom.
Bon Jovi, shocked by the statement from his musician peer, told Jelly Roll that he too is hopeful the issues get resolved. "I hope so. Those are really archaic rules. Entertainers should be able to go and do their job," the "It's My Life" singer, 62, said.
Humble as ever, Jelly Roll -- who has openly discussed his past issues with the law and drugs, even recently sitting before a Senate committee hearing on Capitol Hill to discuss the fentanyl crisis -- responded that he is just glad to be where he is already.
"For the record, I'm a kid from Antioch, Tennessee, whose father never left the southeastern region until he was in his 50s," he said, explaining how far he has already come in his life and his career.
"I don't think my father left New Jersey," Bon Jovi replied with a laugh.
It was just last month when Jelly Roll opened up about his convictions for the first time since quickly rising to fame. In total the singer says he has been to jail some 40 times over the years.
During a conversation on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast, the genre-bending singer discussed his aggravated robbery conviction, which occurred when he was just 16 years old. Despite being several years out from turning 18, he was tried as an adult and ended up serving more than a year in prison.
"We robbed a couple of guys for some weed," he admitted to Rogan, 56. "It was a heinous crime, admittedly ... it was an armed robbery, we went in there with a gun."
For that incident, he was also sentenced to seven years of probation.
As his fans know, it's his struggles that have led him to where he is today, topping the charts and making music that resonates with millions around the world.
At the 2024 ACM Awards in May -- after taking the stage to accept the award for Best Music Event along with his collaborator, Lainey Wilson, for their song "Save Me" -- he gave a heartbreaking -- yet equally inspiring -- acceptance speech about how music saved his life.
"I thought I would die or go to jail and I'm standing here as an ACM Award winner," he said, visibly emotional from the win.
After thanking his fans and supporters, he popped backstage to discuss with ET his emotional speech and why he was nearly moved to tears in the moment.
"I was so emotional because it saved me," he shared of their meaningful single. "'Save Me' was really the beginning of me finding my real voice and it was kind of me stepping out of my shell and being comfortable and just being open and vulnerable."
As for how he turned his life around after multiple stints in jail -- even welcoming his first child, Bailee Ann, while behind bars -- the singer has shared that it has been anything but easy to change his life. It was the arrival of his daughter in May 2008 that helped kick off his journey of turning over a new leaf.
"A guard knocks on my cell door midafternoon during lockdown," he recalled in an interview with Billboard last year. "He goes, 'You had a kid today.' I've never had nothing in life that urged me in the moment to know that I had to do something different. I have to figure this out right now."
Jelly Roll decided to get serious and get his GED, studying and passing the test on the first try, which he pointed to as a real turning point in his life. Since then, the artist has still dealt with ups and downs, but has used music to keep him on the right path through it all.
Another thing keeping him on the straight and narrow these days? His desire to have a baby with his wife, Bunnie XO, sometime in the near future.
During a recent episode of the Bussin' With the Boys podcast, he shared that they are undergoing IVF to try and expand their family. In addition to welcoming Bailee Ann in a previous relationship, the country singer is also dad to Noah Buddy, 7, from another relationship.
"I think it was realizing that I just want to feel good," Jelly Roll said. "... My wife and I are talking about having a baby. And it really made me realize, at almost 40, I was like, 'That means I gotta live till at least 60. I gotta see this kid into college.'"
His kids are also a major motivation in his recent decision to lose weight, he said. Back in early May, ET spoke with the singer at the 2 Bears 5K, where he talked about his health journey and got emotional while discussing finishing the fun run.
"I couldn't walk a mile when I started trying to do this back in January," Jelly Roll said. "So the fact that we got 3-point-whatever it was, got it down, I felt really, really good about it."
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