The country music star started losing weight in 2022 and has since dropped nearly 300 lbs.

Jelly Roll and Bunnie Xo at the 2024 CMT Music Awards; Bunnie Xo and Jelly Roll attend the 68th Grammy Awards Pre-Grammy Gala.

Jelly Roll showed off his dramatic weight loss alongside wife Bunnie Xo at the Pre-Grammy Gala ahead of the 2026 Grammy Awards.

On Saturday, Jan. 31, the 41-year-old country star — who once weighed 550 lbs. — looked nearly unrecognizable as he walked the red carpet arm-in-arm with the Dumb Blonde Podcast host, with whom he shares kids Bailee Ann, 17, and Noah Buddy, 9.

Jelly — now down to approximately 265 lbs., as he told Men’s Health — sported an all-black textured suit, while his wife, 46, made a statement in a skintight metallic latex dress. The pair shared a few smooches as the cameras captured their sweet romance.

As for how the couple got ready for the big night? Jelly — whose real name is Jason DeFord — exclusively told PEOPLE that his wife required a bit of help getting the latex dress onto her body.

“This outfit right here involved lubrication, which was actually a lot of fun,” he said, prompting Bunnie to chime in, “I had to literally use lube to get into this outfit.”

While some might consider it a wardrobe mishap, Jelly — who is up for three Grammy Awards this year, including Best Contemporary Country Album for Beautifully Broken — seemed to fully enjoy the process.

“Listen, as a husband, man, 10 out of 10 experience,” he quipped before gesturing toward his wife’s figure. “You get your wife one of these right here.”

When Bunnie playfully accused her husband of having a “latex fetish,” the country star responded, “I mean, that’s one of those things. You could shine this thing up like an automobile.”

“You can hit with that one of them old redneck moves,” he continued, mimicking the act of blowing on her dress and wiping it off to make it squeaky clean. “You know what I’m saying? You could polish the paint off that thing. I might not take this off of her tonight. I might polish it off.”

With a laugh, Bunnie then joked, “He’s going to turn me into a slip and slide later.”

Beyond the behind-the-scenes work that went into putting on Bunnie’s showstopping dress, Jelly has been public about his dedication to improving his health since he started losing weight in 2022.

“I’ve been fat my whole life,” he said on The Bobby Bones Show at the time, noting that his mother had given him the nickname Jelly Roll as a child. “She started calling me Jelly Roll when I was young, and I spent the next 20 years trying to grow into the name.”

While the musician previously emphasized that he became successful in spite of his weight, rather than because of it, Jelly told PEOPLE in 2024 that his weight loss journey has drastically changed his lifestyle and rituals on tour.

Luke Combs is in it for the long haul.

The “Ain’t No Love In Oklahoma” singer has been open about his goal to lose weight and live a healthier lifestyle for his family, which includes his wife, Nicole Combs, and their children: Tex, Beau and a third baby on the way.

“I want to be around … I’m fine right now, my cholesterol and my blood pressure [are] fine because I’m a younger guy, but by the time I’m 45, [they’re] not going to be because of the shape that I’m in,” he said during a June 2022 appearance on The Zane Lowe Show for Apple Music.

Combs shared that he’s struggled with his weight for most of his life and compared his eating habits to a drug addiction.

“I don’t need a cigarette to be alive. But I need food to be alive,” he told Lowe. “It’s like, you would literally die without food. And so that’s what makes it such a difficult thing.”

Here is everything Luke Combs has shared about his weight loss journey.

Combs has struggled with his weight since childhood

The Grammy-nominated artist has been candid about his struggle with his weight, noting that it goes back to his childhood.

“I think my physical fitness and my appearance and my size has always been something that I struggled with, from the time I was a child,” he shared while appearing on a March 2023 episode of The Joe Rogan Experience. “And it’s this mountain that I’ve always been standing at the bottom of, trying to run up, but then inherently slipping down every time.”

“And it’s this thing that I feel like if I don’t overcome it in my lifetime, it will be my biggest regret, without a doubt. … It is a burden that weighs so heavily on me,” he added.

Becoming a father inspired him to lead a healthier lifestyle

After becoming a father in 2022, Combs was inspired to prioritize his health.

“This having a kid thing has really messed up my head on this thing in the best way,” he shared with Lowe. “I want to be around, dude.”

A year later, Combs doubled down in his interview with Rogan, sharing that his motivation to lose weight wasn’t driven by external factors like what other people think about him or how he looks, but rather “what I feel like it means about me as a man” and as a father.

“I wanna be runnin’ around the yard with my children,” he said. “I wanna take my son on an elk hunt when he’s 16 years old and hike up a mountain when I’m in my late 40s. I wanna do that with him.”

Combs cut out gluten from his diet

During the summer of 2024, Combs noticed his anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder were “flaring up really bad” and “beginning to get in the way of everyday life enjoyment,” he told ABC News in November of that year.

It led him to take a closer look at his health. He spoke with a doctor and did a food sensitivity test, which showed he had a “really high sensitivity” to gluten.

“Surprisingly, this is the least country thing I’ve ever said: [I’m] gluten-free now,” he told the outlet.

“Ever since eliminating that, man, it’s changed my life mentally,” he added. “There was no intent of, like, man, I should try to lose some weight.”

 

He has lost 30 lbs.

While promoting his 2025 single, “Back in the Saddle,” Combs shared a video on his Instagram Stories with an update on his weight loss journey.

“Obviously, I’ve been working real hard on this record for a long time, and I’ve got this lead single coming out. I’m just jazzed, man. Good day. Great day to be alive,” he said.

“Kid’s down 30 lbs. Lot of hard work. Lot of missed cakes on birthdays. But anyway, I just wanted to say that I’m real thankful for you guys, I’m real thankful for this next phase of whatever the music is or turns into,” Combs added.

Combs said he is aiming for “longevity”

Combs’ weight loss journey isn’t something he’s taking lightly — he has said he wants to be consistent with his goals for his family’s sake.

“Longevity is the goal,” he told ABC News. “Every day you get to spend with those guys is really fun and tough, and you need to be your best self to take care of them the way that you feel like they deserve to be taken care of.”

“It’s a long process, man. It’s a long road,” he added. “It’s tough. It’s a challenge, man. I struggle with it every day.”

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