VIDEO: Bunnie Xo Talks Sex Work, Sugar Daddies, and Sticking With Jelly Roll in Stern Show Debut

Bad habits are notoriously hard to break, but don’t tell that to Bunnie Xo who has improbably overcome addiction, childhood trauma, and a years-long career as a sex worker to start a fresh chapter as a podcast star, social media personality, and author of a brand-new memoir.

Making her Stern Show debut Tuesday morning to discuss the raw and heartfelt autobiography, “Stripped Down: Unfiltered and Unapologetic,” Bunnie opened up to Howard about her rollercoaster of a life — which has taken her from the trailer parks of Vegas to the mansions of Nashville — and decade-long marriage to country superstar Jelly Roll. In her book, Bunnie recalls the heartbreak she felt a couple years into her marriage after learning her husband Jelly Roll had been unfaithful. Howard wondered what went into her decision to give the “Son of a Sinner” singer another chance.

“I was like, ‘I really love this man,’ and I thank God for second chances because I am a second chance,” Bunnie Xo said. “When we went through that entire situation I had to look inside myself also and say, ‘Why am I attracting these men?’ Because this seems to be a huge pattern in my life.”

Breaking free of destructive cycles is a major theme in Bunnie’s memoir, which also goes into detail about her struggles with substance abuse and the years she spent working as a stripper, an OnlyFans model, and, eventually, a prostitute.

“When you’ve been stripping for a couple years, you don’t want to work eight hours in the club. You’d rather go and make five grand in 20 minutes than have to bust your ass all night for that,” she told Howard of her journey as a sex worker, adding, “Making that jump was really hard for me … [but] when you fall deeper into your addiction and you get a lot more desensitized into your surroundings it makes it a little bit easier.”

“You’re in survival mode and you’re not thinking about the abuse you’re putting your body through,” Bunnie continued, adding, “I really try not to glamorize it … [I was] not walking a path that I would ever want, you know, a little girl listening to my story or reading my book to walk. I want them to learn from me.”

“It worked out for me because I was so tenacious, but it’s a dead-end road. A lot of girls don’t get out like I did,” she concluded.

Going into more detail about her typical clientele, Bunnie revealed some men had “mommy issues” and wanted a mother figure in their life while other men — “sugar daddies” — loved controlling women with their money.

She told Howard she was never interested in a long-term relationship with a sugar daddy, despite the fact they gifted everything from credit cards to sports cars. “I had a lot of girlfriends who fell in love with their sugar daddies … but I just could never be with a man who was a trick,” Bunnie said. “I’d always look at them like that. I don’t know, I just don’t have respect for a man who could do that.”

Career Change

What finally set Bunnie on a different trajectory? Getting busted by an undercover cop.  

“We were trying to gamble with him, and he’s like, ‘Okay, I’m ready to go upstairs … Can you quote me a price right now?’” she recalled for Howard. “I was like, ‘Seven hundred,’ [and] as soon as I said that he pulled his badge on me and was like, ‘You’re under arrest.’”

“You must’ve shit your pants!” Howard responded.

“I was like, ‘Oh my gosh,’” Bunnie said, recalling she spent about 12 hours in the holding tank in jail before posting bail.

One could be forgiven for holding a grudge against an arresting officer, but Bunnie feels she owes the man a debt of gratitude. “I actually just talked to [him]. He’s going to come out in my show in Vegas, and I’m so excited about it,” she said, “What a full 180 [to be] the last man who arrested me for prostitution, and now you get to come out to my show, and I get to talk about how you changed my life.”

Blowing Through Millions in Her 20s

Bunnie Xo earned a lot of money in her younger years as sex worker but didn’t exactly invest it wisely: “It went to drugs, partying, blowing it on dudes, you know, getting houses,” she told Howard.

“Does that fill you with some regret?” he asked.

“There are some times when I look back and I’m like, ‘Wow, I had like a million or two million dollars go through my hands in my 20s, and I could’ve lived such a better life,” Bunnie concluded. “But then again, on the flipside, I lived a hell of a life, and I wrote a book about it, and God has given me that money back tenfold in my 40s. So, I’m just thankful.”

“Stripped Down: Unfiltered and Unapologetic” is available today everywhere books are sold.