Although he’s spoken at length about being “petrified” of losing his momentum in the industry, country music sensation Jelly Roll says it won’t be his weight that dictates the amount of success he has in the future.

The Nashville, Tennessee, native, who recently embarked on a public weight-loss journey, says he’s confident that his willingness to be open about dropping pounds won’t shed him of his fame.

“I did this publicly for a reason,” he told wife Bunnie Xo, on her “Dumb Blonde” podcast, released Monday. “I want to be honest about my struggles with it with people. I wore it for so long.”

JELLY ROLL LOST OVER 100 POUNDS WHILE FIGHTING FOOD ADDICTION BATTLE

“I think that people that become as big as I became, when they lose the weight, they’re kind of ashamed,” explained the “Save Me” singer, who has lost 100 pounds. “They’re so ashamed that they go and hide and lose the weight, and then they come back out, and they don’t really know how to interact with the world, looking different or feeling different, you know? And they kind of got to find their whole new way.” 

Jelly Roll, who was born Jason Bradley DeFord, says he took the opposite approach. “I wanted to lose it in front of everybody. I wanted to talk about it,” adding that it’s a regular topic of conversation in his daily vlogs he records. 

Jelly Roll says he chose to include the public on his weight-loss journey. (Scott Legato/Getty Images)

“This is constantly what I’m putting in the air because I want to bring people along with me.” 

To further his point, Jelly Roll brought up a previous conversation with his wife. “One night you said something to the effect of, ‘Are you worried about the ’fat effect’? And that most Hollywood stars who have lost a large amount of weight ended up not getting placed in their career.”

Jelly Roll was a guest on his wife Bunnie XO’s podcast, “Dumb Blonde.” (Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic/Getty Images)

“What I want the world to know, and I want the people to see, Bunnie, is that I didn’t become successful because of my weight, I became successful in spite of it,” Jelly Roll said definitively. “I somehow managed to be this successful with carrying 550 pounds. That’s insane.”

Jelly Roll believes his struggle with food surpasses unhealthy habits. “I used to feel like it was such an injustice to real addicts to call food something you could be addicted to. You know, cause I’ve seen people fight for their life on heroin,” the former incarcerated singer shared. 

“I didn’t become successful because of my weight, I became successful in spite of it.”

— Jelly Roll

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Jelly Roll believes that in losing weight, he is confronting his addiction to food. (Amy Sussman/Getty Images)

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“But, I’ve seen people fight for their life in their own body. You know what I mean? And I started realizing that the same patterns that I had… toward drugs or alcohol at different times of my life, was small compared to the consistent bad pattern I’d had with food.”

On his horizon, Jelly Roll has set a new goal for himself: being a cover model. “I wanna be on the cover of ‘Men’s Health’ by March of 2026,” he told his wife, who shared in his excitement. “That’s my new goal. So I wanna have one of the biggest transformations.”

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Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson declined King Charles’ invitation to celebrate Christmas together.

The Duke and Duchess of York, and their daughters Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie will not be in attendance for morning church services or lunch with the royal family at the Sandringham House, People magazine reported. 

Prince Andrew was revealed to recently have contact with an alleged Chinese spy, Sky News reported. His office released a statement on Friday, saying he had cut ties with the Chinese businessman on the “advice” from officials, but that the pair had never discussed anything of a “sensitive nature.”

KING CHARLES SECRETLY PAYING PRINCE ANDREW’S RENT AFTER STRIPPING HIS ALLOWANCE: EXPERT

The Duke of York is eighth in line to the throne, but his controversial friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, along with allegations of sexual assault, forced the Palace to strip Andrew of his military affiliations and royal patronages in January 2022.

Andrew is also no longer a senior working royal following the unfolding of his friendship with Epstein.

Colorado Buffaloes star Travis Hunter should be celebrating winning the Heisman Trophy, but instead, he was forced to fire back at online trolls who had criticized his fiancée.

Leanna Lenee faced scrutiny for how she seemingly behaved during an event for Hunter. However, all she appeared to be doing was sitting on the couch as the football star did a meet-and-greet with fans.

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Hunter sounded off on the criticism in a Twitch livestream, according to the New York Post.

“You ain’t never had no girl so why are y’all talking about me,” he said. “Find someone else to talk about. … Go talk about your girl. Go find a girl. Go find a life. Stop worrying about what I got going on. I know what I got.

“My girl been with me for five years. y’all are just now starting to talk about me… y’all go do something else with y’all life. Clickbait pages stop, y’all better stop I’m telling y’all. Something bad is gonna happen to y’all [if you] keep doing that. Y’all better stop that. I ain’t playing.”

Hunter explained he and Lenee were talking about their plans for the rest of the evening. He also said she got drunk and cried all night as the criticism trickled in.

Colorado Buffaloes wide receiver/cornerback Travis Hunter answers questions during media interviews before the 2024 Heisman Trophy presentation on Dec 14, 2024 in New York City. (Lucas Boland-Imagn Images)

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“I don’t want her to go to sleep sad. It’s hard on me because I can’t even help her.”

He spoke glowingly about Lenee on “The Pivot Podcast” days before he won the Heisman Trophy.

“She’s my closest to everything, she helped me with everything. It’s kind of hard sometimes, but she’s always there,” he said.

Hunter will likely be one of the first players taken in the 2025 draft. He has one more bowl game before his collegiate career is probably finished.

Colorado’s Travis Hunter holds the trophy after winning the Heisman Trophy as the outstanding player in college football on Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024 in New York City. (Todd Van Emst/Heisman Trust via AP, Pool)

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The wide receiver-cornerback has 92 receptions for 1,152 yards and 14 touchdowns. He also has four interceptions and 11 pass breakups.

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A never-before-aired interview with JonBenet Ramsey’s parents, John and Patsy Ramsey, and the late Barbara Walters has resurfaced following the release of a new documentary about the 6-year-old pageant star’s 1996 murder.

JonBenet was found dead in the basement of her family’s Boulder, Colorado, home the day after Christmas 28 years ago, and the case remains unsolved to this day, despite ongoing public interest and a recent push from John Ramsey to re-test crime scene evidence for DNA using new technology. 

“The ransom note has an odd figure — $118,000. That was a bonus that you had received,” Walters, then a host of ABC’s “20/20,” says in the interview, which was conducted in 2000 but never aired, according to ABC.

“Well, that was one of the theories that I came up with, that it was close to the net amount I’d received that year as a bonus,” John Ramsey told Walters. “One-eighteen means something to the killer. We know that. We believe that. Whether it’s tied to my bonus or something only the killer knows, we don’t know.”

JONBENET RAMSEY’S FATHER CLAIMS COLORADO POLICE OFFICER SAID THEY ARE ‘JUST WAITING’ FOR HIM TO DIE

When Walters asked Patsy Ramsey, who died six years after the interview in 2006, whether she knew the amount of her husband’s bonus, she responded, “Not at the time, no.”

The interview resurfaced after the November premiere of the Netflix documentary, “Cold Case: Who Killed JonBenet Ramsey.”

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Patsy Ramsey is pictured with her daughter, JonBenet, whose murder remains unsolved. (Courtesy of Netflix)

John Ramsey, 80, most recently told Fox News Digital in September that he felt optimistic about new leadership at the Boulder Police Department (BPD), which officially named a new police chief on Sept. 6.

Chief Stephen Redfearn, who served as the interim chief for HPD starting in January, is the fifth police chief at BPD to take on the JonBenet Ramsey case since 1996.

JONBENET’S FATHER CHALLENGES COLORADO GOVERNOR TO MEET: ‘TIME FOR ANSWERS IS RUNNING OUT’

JonBenet Ramsey would have turned 34 on Saturday, Aug. 6, 2024. (Ramsey family)

Ramsey told Fox News Digital he would like BPD to turn over evidence in his daughter’s nearly 30-year-old murder case to the FBI, “at a minimum,” so that federal officials can test and retest evidence for possible external DNA, including external male DNA that federal officials disclosed in 1997.

“We have an unidentified male DNA result from the testing they did in 1997, which … by today’s standards, it was primitive,” Ramsey explained. “But we have an unidentified male DNA sample, which was reported to the police in January 1997. They kept that a secret because it conflicted with their conclusion that we were guilty. How do we explain that away? Which they tried desperately to do.”

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In this Jan. 3, 1997 file photo, a police officer sits in her cruiser outside the home in which 6-year-old JonBenet Ramsey was found murdered in Boulder, Colorado. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)

Evidence that has never been tested for traces of DNA includes the garrote found around JonBenet’s neck, a ransom note found in the Ramsey house on the morning of the murder, a suitcase found in the basement that authorities believe the killer used to escape out a window, an unknown flashlight found on the Ramsey family’s kitchen counter the morning of the murder and unknown rope found in her brother Burke Ramsey’s room that day, according to public records initially obtained by journalist Paula Woodward, as Fox News Digital previously reported.

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In 1999, a grand jury indicted both John and his wife, Patsy Ramsey, for child abuse resulting in JonBenet’s death, but Alex Hunter, the district attorney at the time, refused to sign the indictment, citing a lack of evidence that would warrant criminal charges against the parents. Prosecutors eventually dropped their case against John and Patsy in 2006.

BPD said in a September statement that “Chief Redfearn has continued to have conversations with the Ramsey family, and there are no plans to change that.”

The U.S. Embassy in Syria is urging Americans inside the war-torn country to flee immediately or prepare to “shelter in place for extended periods.” 

The warning comes as the “security situation in Syria continues to be volatile and unpredictable with armed conflict and terrorism throughout the country” following the downfall of Syrian President Bashar Assad, the embassy said in a statement Monday. 

“U.S. citizens should depart Syria if possible. U.S. citizens who are unable to depart should prepare contingency plans for emergency situations and be prepared to shelter in place for extended periods,” it added. 

The embassy suspended operations in 2012, “and is not open for normal consular services,” its website says. In its latest advisory, the State Department recommends Americans avoid traveling to Syria “due to the risk of terrorism, civil unrest, kidnapping or hostage taking, and armed conflict.” 

MOTHER OF AN AMERICAN JOURNALIST IMPRISONED IN SYRIA SEES HOPE FOLLOWING NEWS OF TRAVIS TIMMERMAN’S RELEASE 

“The U.S. government is unable to provide any routine or emergency consular services to U.S. citizens in Syria,” the embassy said Monday. “U.S. citizens in Syria who are in need of emergency assistance to depart should contact the U.S. Embassy in the country they plan to enter.” 

Americans who remain in Syria are also advised by the embassy to keep their cell phones charged in case of emergency and to “monitor the news closely for breaking developments that could affect internal security, and factor updated information into your travel plans and activities.” 

CHRONICLING THE ASSAD REGIME FROM DEATH OF THE FATHER TO DEFEAT OF THE SON 

A Syrian fighter shouts at people suspected of looting at a residential complex of former President Bashar Assad’s military officers at the village of Husseiniyeh, on the outskirts of Damascus, Syria, on Sunday, Dec. 15. (AP//Leo Correa)

Assad fled to Russia after rebels stormed Syria’s capital of Damascus earlier this month. 

He released a statement Monday saying, in part, “I have never sought positions for personal gain but have always considered myself as a custodian of a national project, supported by the faith of the Syrian people, who believed in its vision.”

Syrian fighters walk to attend a celebratory demonstration following the first Friday prayers since Bashar Assad’s ouster, in Damascus’ central square, on Friday, Dec. 13. (AP/Leo Correa)

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“I have carried an unwavering conviction in their will and ability to protect the state, defend its institutions, and uphold their choices to the very last moment,” Assad added. 

Fox News’ Simon Owen contributed to this report. 

House GOP allies of President-elect Donald Trump are pushing for him to have greater control over Congress’ annual government spending process next year.

Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Ga., is introducing a bill on Monday that would repeal a measure that forces the president to direct the federal government to spend the full amount of money allocated by Congress every year.

Clyde told Fox News Digital on Thursday that he also plans to introduce the bill in the next Congress, when Republicans control the House, Senate and White House – and that the issue is already being discussed in Trump’s circle.

“That was certainly a topic that was brought up” with Vivek Ramaswamy and Elon Musk when they were on Capitol Hill earlier this month to discuss the Department of Government Efficiency, Clyde said.

REPUBLICANS GIVE DETAILS FROM CLOSED-DOOR MEETINGS WITH DOGE’S MUSK, RAMASWAMY

“They’re in favor of it, because how can you be efficient and not have the ability to reduce spending? You simply can’t.”

He also told a small group of reporters earlier this month that incoming Trump Office Of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought “is very much in favor of this.”

The Impoundment Control Act of 1974 was passed during the Nixon administration and aimed at stopping the president from having unilateral say over government spending.

Currently, a president must get congressional approval to rescind any funding that has been allocated for a certain year. The funds in question can be held for up to 45 days while the request gets processed.

“I think the authority is very, very important for the president to exercise,” Clyde said. “Ever since Congress introduced that act, you’ve seen spending literally spiraling upwards. And that’s just not good for our country.”

DANIEL PENNY TO BE TAPPED FOR CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL BY HOUSE GOP LAWMAKER

Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Ga., is leading the charge to repeal the Impoundment Control Act. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

Clyde’s bill would roll back the Impoundment Control Act. A corresponding bill is being introduced in the Senate by Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah.

Clyde said over a dozen House Republicans are backing his bill as well.

Musk and Ramaswamy advocated for Trump to have greater authority to rescind funding in an op-ed published by the Wall Street Journal last month, after the president-elect tapped them to lead an advisory panel on cutting government waste.

The Georgia Republican acknowledged that the bill has long odds in the current Democrat-controlled Senate and with just one week left in the congressional term, but said he would “definitely” introduce it in the next Congress.

MIKE JOHNSON WINS REPUBLICAN SUPPORT TO BE HOUSE SPEAKER AGAIN AFTER TRUMP ENDORSEMENT

Rep. Brendan Boyle, D-Pa., the top Democrat on the House Budget Committee, is against the idea. (Getty Images)

He described Monday’s introduction as “putting a flag in the ground, saying ‘Hey, this is an authority that the president should be able to use in an unhindered fashion, and we are going to help.’”

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However, the issue is likely to fall along partisan lines. Rep. Brendan Boyle, D-Pa., the top Democrat on the House Budget Committee, responded to Musk and Ramaswamy’s op-ed by calling their ideas “as idiotic as they are dangerous.”

“Unilaterally slashing funds that have been lawfully appropriated by the people’s elected representatives in Congress would be a devastating power grab that undermines our economy and puts families and communities at risk,” Boyle said in a statement.

Two luxury real estate agents and their brother are accused of drugging and then sexually assaulting and raping dozens of women, according to a federal indictment filed last week and obtained by Fox News Digital. 

Tal, 38, and Oren Alexander, 37, two prominent jet-setting brokers in New York and Miami, and their brother Alon Alexander, Oren’s identical twin, were arrested in Miami Beach on Wednesday, Dec. 11. 

Prosecutors allege that the Alexander brothers “worked together, and with others known and unknown to repeatedly and violently drug, sexually assault, and rape dozens of victims” in New York, Miami and elsewhere, the indictment says. 

“This conduct, as alleged, was heinous,” U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Damian Williams said at a Manhattan news conference announcing the charges. 

FORMER DEMOCRATIC REP. ANTHONY WEINER, CONVICTED OF ILLICIT CONTACT WITH MINOR, FILES TO RUN FOR NYC COUNCIL

The Alexander brothers “arranged for these sexual assaults well in advance, using the promise of luxury experiences, travel, and accommodations to lure and entice women to locations where they were then forcibly raped or sexually assaulted, sometimes by multiple men,” including themselves, according to the indictment. 

At times, the brothers “physically restrained and held down their victims during the rapes and sexual assaults and ignored screams and explicit requests to stop,” the indictment continues.

According to the charges in the indictment, the three brothers had conspired in the sex trafficking scheme since at least 2010, but prosecutors filed a letter on Wednesday alleging that their sexual violence against women actually spans more than 20 years, dating as far back as when the men were in high school in Miami.

In the letter, prosecutors asked the court to deny the brothers bail, while also revealing additional details about their alleged crimes. 

FORMER NEW YORK STATE GOVERNOR ANDREW CUOMO’S SEXUAL HARASSMENT ACCUSER DROPS FEDERAL LAWSUIT

As adults, the Alexander brothers’ serial sexual violence only escalated, prosecutors added. After they graduated from college, all three brothers moved to New York City, although they continued to also maintain homes in Miami and split their time between the two cities.

“The evidence in this case also establishes that the defendants planned and paid for trips involving the interstate and international transportation of women on multiple other occasions,” prosecutors wrote in the letter. 

Oren Alexander, 37, center, and his twin brother, Alon, center-right, speak to their attorney Joel Denaro during their bond hearing after being charged with multiple state and federal crimes, including sex trafficking and rape, at the Richard E. Gerstein Justice Building on Friday, Dec. 13, 2024, in Miami. (Matias J. Ocner/Miami Herald via AP, Pool.)

One victim, called Victim-1 in the letter by prosecutors, reported being raped by Tal Alexander and “another man” in 2011 at the Alexander brothers’ vacation house in the Hamptons. Victim-1 had never met Tal Alexander before, and after arriving at the house “was given a glass of wine and drank about half of it before she began to feel unwell in a way inconsistent with drinking that amount,” according to the letter. 

Victim-1’s memory then became hazy, but she has several distinct memories of the night. Specifically, Victim-1 remembers being held down by Tal while another man entered the room, according to the letter, and recalls being in a second location with Tal and the other man and that a camcorder was set up. 

DIDDY DENIED BAIL IN SEX TRAFFICKING, RACKETEERING CASE

Oren and Alon Alexander attend Jeff Gordon’s Last Lap on Nov. 22, 2015 at The Villa, Casa Casuarina in Miami Beach, Florida.  (Aaron Davidson/Getty Images for J Group)

Another woman, Victim-2, reported being raped by Oren Alexander in 2016 after she “began feeling strange and struggled to walk” after Oren handed her a cocktail. Alon Alexander then allegedly took the woman to a bedroom to lay down, and she later woke to find Oren in the room. Oren pulled down her bathing suit and raped her while she was “physically impaired and could not move,” and “struggled to speak,” the letter continued. 

Prosecutors said that “just weeks after the Alexander brothers sex trafficked and raped Victim-2,” the brothers, along with a number of other individuals, arranged to transport women to Tulum, Mexico. The brothers engaged in a group WhatsApp chat titled “Lions in Tulum,” referring to the Mexican resort town, in which they and other men attending the trip discussed “imports” of women and splitting the cost of lodging and flights for the women and providing drugs “that would make them more likely to engage in sex.”

Oren Alexander and his twin brother, Alon, attend a bond hearing after being charged with multiple state and federal crimes, including sex trafficking and rape, at the Richard E. Gerstein Justice Building on Friday, Dec. 13, 2024, in Miami. (Matias J. Ocner/Miami Herald via AP, Pool)

One of the drugs mentioned, “G,” which prosecutors believe is in reference to “GHB,” is defined as a “date rape” drug. 

“Are all girls getting shipped out on Sunday?” Oren Alexander said in one message, adding that he was “just trying to make sure I get max returns.” He said the price they were paying was “more than most of us ever spent on girls.”

‘DIDDY’ MAKES 3RD BAIL ATTEMPT AFTER PROSECUTORS ALLEGE HE BLACKMAILED VICTIMS FROM BEHIND BARS

Oren and Tal Alexander co-founded the real estate firm Official, which offers luxury listings in places like New York City, the Hamptons, Miami and Los Angeles, in 2022 after rising through the ranks at Douglas Elliman, one of the largest real estate brokerages in the country, prosecutors wrote.

At Douglas Elliman, they secured significant brokered deals, including a nearly $240 million sale of a penthouse in 2019, which at the time was the most expensive residential sale in United States history. Alon Alexander, 37, did not work in real estate, but he socialized with them.

All three brothers live in “high-value” properties in Miami Beach and New York, prosecutors said. Tal Alexander rents an apartment inside a skyscraper on Manhattan’s “Billionaire’s Row,” while Alon and Oren Alexander live in properties in Miami Beach with “direct water access” and “private docks,” according to court filings. 

Tal and Oren took steps to conceal their crimes and protect their reputations in the real estate industry, prosecutors said. 

“The Government is aware, for instance, of at least one occasion in which Tal and Oren filed a police report alleging harassment against a woman who has described being forcibly digitally penetrated by Tal while Oren was in the room. Tal also threatened that victim with a defamation lawsuit if she did not stop telling people that he and Oren had sexually assaulted her,” according to the filing by prosecutors.

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Tal Alexander attends the Charity Gala for Ukraine people and culture at Scuola Grande Di San Rocco on April 21, 2022, in Venice, Italy.   (Daniele Venturelli/Getty Images)

All three brothers were charged with one count of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking and a separate count of sex trafficking of one woman by force, fraud or coercion. In addition, Tal Alexander was charged with the sex trafficking of a second victim.

“Mr. Alexander will enter a not guilty plea and addressing these charges in the appropriate forum – a courtroom,” Isabelle Kirschner, representing Alon Alexander in connection with the indictment, told Fox News Digital in a statement. 

Attorneys Susan Necheles, representing Oren Alexander, and Joel Denaro, representing Oren and Alon Alexander in Florida, told Fox News Digital in a statement that a judge had granted them release from custody.

“A Florida judge today ordered Oren and Alon Alexander released from state jail. After two hearings, the state judge found that conditions can be put in place to ensure the safety of the community and Oren and Alon’s attendance in court, and ordered the two men be released on bail,” the attorneys said on Friday. “We are grateful and ready to begin to fight this case in court.”

Deanna Paul, an attorney for older brother Tal Alexander, did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. 

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Williams said the investigation was ongoing and urged anyone with claims of sexual violence by any of the Alexander brothers to come forward.