📖 Overview
Stripped Down: Unfiltered and Unapologetic is the debut memoir of Alisa DeFord — better known to millions as Bunnie Xo — published in February 2026 by Dey Street Books, an imprint of HarperCollins. Released just as Bunnie’s profile was skyrocketing alongside her husband, Grammy-nominated country artist Jelly Roll, the book arrives as both a personal reckoning and a public declaration of identity.
The memoir traces Bunnie’s life from a poverty-stricken childhood in the trailer parks of Las Vegas all the way to the mansions of Nashville — covering drug addiction, toxic relationships, sex work, domestic abuse, a failed first marriage, and eventually, a hard-won redemption story that led her to become one of America’s most-downloaded podcast hosts and founder of Dumb Blonde Productions.
Narrated by the author herself in the audiobook version, Stripped Down doesn’t pull punches. It’s equal parts heartbreaking and hilarious — the kind of memoir that reads like a conversation with a brutally honest best friend who has been through hell and somehow came out laughing.
⚡ Key Takeaways
| # | Key Takeaway | Why It Matters |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | No one is irredeemable | Bunnie’s entire life arc is proof that rock bottom is not the end of the story |
| 2 | Redemption is self-driven | No one handed Bunnie a better life — she built it herself, often from nothing |
| 3 | Trauma cycles can be broken | Despite a childhood of neglect and abuse, Bunnie chose differently for her future |
| 4 | Radical honesty is liberating | By owning every mistake publicly, Bunnie disarms judgment and builds trust |
| 5 | Love can be found after chaos | Her marriage to Jelly Roll — itself tested by infidelity — became her anchor |
| 6 | Success doesn’t erase your past | Bunnie credits her chaotic history as the fuel behind her media empire |
| 7 | Humor is a survival tool | Even in the darkest moments, Bunnie uses wit and self-awareness to cope |
| 8 | Authenticity builds community | Her millions of podcast fans connect because she refuses to perform perfection |
📚 Book Structure
Stripped Down is organized as a roughly chronological memoir, moving through the key chapters of Bunnie’s life with unflinching honesty. The narrative arc follows a clear structural through-line:
Part One — The Foundation: Vegas Roots & A Broken Beginning
Bunnie opens with her earliest years growing up in poverty in Las Vegas. She paints a vivid, painful picture of a childhood marked by neglect from the adults who were supposed to protect her, economic hardship, and the absence of a stable foundation. These early chapters establish the emotional context for every decision that follows.
Part Two — The Spiral: Addiction, Abuse & Toxic Patterns
The memoir’s middle sections are the most harrowing. Bunnie documents her descent into drug use, a series of abusive relationships, a first marriage, and encounters with men who compounded her trauma. She also chronicles sex work during this period — discussed without shame and with characteristic directness. Readers see her repeatedly falling into harmful cycles while simultaneously catching glimpses of her resilience.
Part Three — The Turn: Meeting Jelly Roll
The arrival of Jason DeFord — Jelly Roll — marks a turning point, though not without its own turbulence. Bunnie recounts their early relationship, an act of infidelity on Jelly’s part that nearly ended them, and how she ultimately chose to forgive and rebuild. Their 2016 marriage is presented not as a fairy tale rescue, but as a hard-fought partnership between two flawed, recovering people.
Part Four — The Rise: Building an Empire
The final act covers Bunnie’s professional evolution — from launching the Dumb Blonde Podcast to building Dumb Blonde Productions into a media powerhouse. She discusses what it means to have built something entirely on her own terms, using her story and her platform to help others who see themselves in her past.
Closing — Wisdom for the Broken
Bunnie closes the book with direct, homespun advice for readers still caught in cycles she recognizes all too well. It reads less like a self-help outro and more like a letter from someone who genuinely made it out and wants to show you the door.
✍️ About the Author
Alisa DeFord, known universally as Bunnie Xo, was born and raised in Las Vegas, Nevada. Growing up in circumstances most people only read about, she navigated a youth defined by instability, violence, and economic hardship — experiences that would later become the raw material for her entire creative identity.
Today, Bunnie is the founder and owner of Dumb Blonde Productions and the host of the Dumb Blonde Podcast — ranked #1 on Apple Podcasts and #2 on Spotify in the comedy category, with over 1 million downloads per month. She is also one of the largest visual shows on Patreon. Her podcast is known for bringing candid, wide-ranging conversations that bridge worlds — from country music stars to trauma survivors to comedians.
She has been married since 2016 to Jason DeFord, better known as Jelly Roll, the rapper-turned-country-sensation whose own redemption story has made him one of music’s most beloved figures. Together they live on a hobby farm in Nashville with their children.
Stripped Down is her first book.
💡 Why This Book Resonates
In an era saturated with curated social media lives and carefully managed celebrity narratives, Stripped Down stands apart precisely because it refuses to perform. Bunnie does not present a sanitized version of her past for palatability. She does not round off the rough edges or protect anyone — including herself — from the full truth of what happened.
Readers who have grown up in poverty, experienced domestic violence, battled addiction, or simply felt like the wrong kind of person their whole life find in Bunnie a rare mirror. Audible reviewers describe the book as leaving them “bawling because it was so raw, honest, and pure” — and report feeling genuinely seen in a way few memoirs deliver.
The book also arrives at a uniquely charged cultural moment. As Jelly Roll has become a mainstream success story celebrated for his own recovery, Bunnie’s memoir adds depth and dimension to that narrative — reminding us that behind every redemption story is usually another one, just as hard-won and just as worthy of telling.
Equally important is the humor. Bunnie’s voice is disarmingly funny. The laugh-out-loud moments woven between the devastating ones give the book a balance that prevents it from ever becoming oppressively dark.
🎯 Ideal Audience
Stripped Down will resonate most powerfully with readers who fall into one or more of these categories:
- Fans of Bunnie Xo, Jelly Roll, or the Dumb Blonde Podcast who want the full, unredacted backstory
- Memoir lovers who prefer raw, voice-driven narratives over polished literary prose
- Readers who have personally experienced poverty, abuse, addiction, or toxic relationship cycles
- Women who feel society’s expectations of them don’t match who they actually are or who they’ve been
- Anyone in recovery — from substances, from trauma, from bad decisions — looking for proof that reinvention is possible
- Fans of celebrity memoirs that go beyond the highlight reel into genuinely uncomfortable territory
- People who appreciate dark humor as a coping mechanism and a storytelling tool
⚠️ Content note: The memoir contains explicit sexual content, detailed descriptions of drug use, accounts of physical and emotional abuse, and frank discussions of sex work. It is intended for mature readers.
💬 Memorable Quote
“No one is irredeemable.”
This simple, four-word sentence — the beating heart of the entire memoir — appears in the book’s framing and has become its defining message. It’s not a platitude coming from someone who had a rough patch and bounced back. It’s a declaration from someone who lived through the kind of sustained darkness that usually swallows people whole, and found her way out anyway.
🧵 Central Themes
| Theme | Description | How It Manifests |
|---|---|---|
| Redemption | The belief that no past is too dark to overcome | Bunnie’s entire life arc — from trailer parks to Nashville empire |
| Survival & Resilience | The human capacity to endure extreme hardship | Childhood neglect, abusive relationships, addiction — survived without losing self |
| Radical Honesty | The power of refusing to curate or sanitize your story | Nothing is glossed over — not infidelity, not sex work, not substance abuse |
| Self-Ownership | Taking full responsibility for your life, choices, and future | Redemption is framed as something only she could give herself |
| Cycles & Breaking Them | How trauma repeats across relationships and decisions | Recognizing and eventually disrupting harmful patterns in love and lifestyle |
| Love as Partnership | Real love built between two imperfect people | Her marriage to Jelly Roll — forgiveness after infidelity, mutual growth |
| Humor as Armor | Using laughter to survive and process pain | Dark comedy woven throughout even the most difficult chapters |
| Female Authenticity | Living outside social expectations of womanhood | Unapologetic discussions of sexuality, agency, and self-definition |
❓ Frequently Asked Questions
Is this book appropriate for fans who only know Bunnie from the podcast?
Yes — in fact, podcast fans will likely be the most rewarded, as the book fills in the backstory that has only been hinted at in episodes. However, be prepared for a more unflinching level of detail than even the podcast delivers.
Does the book cover Jelly Roll’s infidelity?
Yes. Bunnie addresses the affair directly, shares her emotional process around it, and explains why she chose to forgive and rebuild the marriage. It is one of the most widely discussed sections of the book.
Is the audiobook worth it?
Overwhelmingly, yes. Bunnie narrates the audiobook herself, and listeners report that her voice adds an irreplaceable layer of authenticity and humor to the already raw material. If you connect to her podcast voice, the audiobook is the format for you.
How explicit is the content?
Very. The book contains graphic sexual content, explicit drug references, detailed accounts of physical violence, and frank discussions of sex work. It is strictly for adult readers.
Is this a self-help book or a straight memoir?
Primarily a memoir, but with clear self-help undercurrents. The final sections offer direct wisdom for readers who see themselves in Bunnie’s past. It sits at the crossroads of both genres without fully committing to either.
Do I need to know who Jelly Roll is to appreciate the book?
Not at all. While Jelly Roll’s presence is significant in the latter half of the narrative, the book stands entirely on Bunnie’s own story. Her life before him is just as compelling — arguably more so.
🌟 Final Thoughts
Stripped Down: Unfiltered and Unapologetic is not a comfortable read. It was not designed to be. Bunnie Xo has written a memoir that operates on the philosophy that truth — even ugly, embarrassing, painful truth — is ultimately more useful than a polished lie.
What makes it remarkable is not the darkness itself, but what Bunnie does with it. She doesn’t wallow. She doesn’t perform victimhood. She examines her life with the clear-eyed self-awareness of someone who has done real inner work and emerged with both scars and wisdom to share.
For readers who have ever felt irredeemable, this book is a hand reached across the page. For readers who have never experienced anything like Bunnie’s story, it’s an act of radical empathy — a chance to understand a life lived at the margins, narrated by someone who refused to stay there.
It is also, unexpectedly, deeply funny. And that combination — laughter and ruin, comedy and catharsis — is what will stay with readers long after the last page.
“From the trailer parks of Vegas to the mansions of Nashville — this is what a real reinvention looks like.”
🔗 Useful Links
| Resource | Where to Find It |
|---|---|
| Buy on Amazon | amazon.com — Stripped Down by Bunnie Xo |
| Dumb Blonde Podcast | dumbblondepodcast.com |
| Bunnie Xo on Instagram | @bunniexo |
| Dumb Blonde Productions | dumbblondeproductions.com |
| Booksbriefed.com | More Summaries |
