Jelly Roll might have conquered the country music scene, but his early days as a criminal were far from glamorous.
During a candid interview on The Howard Stern Show, the 39-year-old star opened up about his troubled past, where he humorously confessed to being “the worst criminal ever.”
Host Howard Stern didn’t hold back, remarking, “You must have been the worst drug dealer because you were busted like 47 times.” Jelly Roll agreed, sharing a particularly memorable encounter with the police.
“My successfulness of running from the police is zero and 20,” he joked, recalling an incident when he was 15 and under the influence of Xanax.
“In my mind, I jumped out and sprinted across a field and almost made it. I was so fat and Xanaxed out, I stood out and got two steps,” he recounted. The cop, feeling sorry for him, didn’t even charge him for attempting to flee.
In the new documentary Rebel Country, which premiered at the Tribeca Festival on June 10, Jelly Roll revisited his past, including his time at the Metro-Davidson County Detention Facility in Nashville.
“At the age of 14, I started making a series of decisions that led to what I call the revolving door of the judicial system,” he said, explaining that he spent about eight and a half years incarcerated between the ages of 14 and 24.
