Certain celebrities seem to experience a certain kind of chaos at the worst possible moment. The spring of 2025 turned out to be something that Jelly Roll, the tattooed country-rap crossover artist who spent years crafting a redemption story that the public genuinely wanted to support, probably didn’t anticipate. a potential lawsuit. a divorce petition. And a camera-wielding comedian who claims to have been afraid for her life.
Comedian Nicole Arbour, who has been publicly criticizing Jelly Roll on social media for months, made the accusation. According to Arbour, the singer saw her carrying a camera at a charity function and threatened to kill her if he saw it again. On March 1, she submitted an incident report to the Metro Nashville Police Department along with what she claims is video evidence of the incident. It was examined by police. They verified that Jelly Roll and another man were visible in the video. They also attested to having heard the remark. Arbour claims that after that, things became odd.
She claims that 46 minutes after TMZ published an article about the incident, which she says was funded by Jelly Roll’s team, a detective emailed her to inform her that the investigation had been put on hold due to the inability to contact a witness. For their part, Nashville police informed TMZ that no charges had been brought and that there was no ongoing investigation. The department’s statement, “There appears to be an ongoing back and forth between the two,” seemed to be a well-crafted non-answer.
Arbour wasn’t happy. She claimed that an officer had previously refused to take her report at all, and she used X to expose what she called police corruption. “They said they would not take it,” she stated. “They wish to avoid being sued. They are opposed to being placed on leave. It’s still unclear if her allegations of corruption are true or if this is just a personal conflict that has grown out of control for both parties.
The timing is what makes this more difficult to decipher. Jelly Roll filed for divorce from his wife of almost ten years, Bunnie Xo, in Williamson County, Tennessee, just weeks after Arbour’s report went public. The filing stated that their separation date was May 9 and cited irreconcilable differences. No one is publicly stating whether or not the legal drama had any influence on that ruling.
Holly Davis, a family law lawyer who does not represent either party and examined the divorce filing for PEOPLE, said the tone was remarkably serene. “It looks very agreement-oriented,” she remarked. According to the filing, both parties might already be heading toward a settlement as opposed to a contentious legal dispute. Additionally, there is the issue of timing. Due to the couple’s August 2016 wedding, the divorce was filed shortly before their ten-year anniversary, which legal observers believe may be significant when determining alimony. According to Tennessee law, a judge may consider the duration of a marriage when determining spousal support, and the ten-year mark may have some bearing on those decisions.
There was not a single dramatic breaking point, a source close to the matter told PEOPLE. According to the source, “they still love each other but were no longer on the same page.” That might be the case. Long-term partnerships don’t always end badly. Occasionally, they simply run out of the road in silence.
What’s left is a picture of a man who, after years of transforming a difficult past into something that people respected, is currently dealing with a very public unraveling on several fronts at once. The threat of a lawsuit has not been addressed. The divorce is being processed. Additionally, a comedian in Nashville is still uploading videos and watching what transpires.
