Photo: Getty Images
Jelly Roll opened up about how he overcame challenges in his mental health journey — including how it impacted his physical health goals — during a conversation with Kelly Clarkson on The Kelly Clarkson Show.
The reigning iHeartRadio Music Awards Best New Artist award in both Pop and Country categories has often been open about the importance of prioritizing mental health, and told PEOPLE earlier this year that because of 5K prep, he’d lost “70-something pounds.” Catching up with Clarkson on Wednesday (October 16), Jelly Roll said he’s “almost 100 pounds” down this year as he remains mindful of his health, including his vulnerability.
Jelly Roll said part of his mental health journey has meant “cliche stuff” like “just getting out in the sun, started focusing on losing weight, cutting out alcohol…and doing a lot of therapy work. A lot of what I put in my body changed, too. …I realized that it wasn’t just what I was putting in my body food-wise that was killing me. It was what I was listening to and what I was watching, and where I was allowing my thoughts to sit and live.”
The “I Am Not Okay” artist said he “started being honest and being more vulnerable. For Jelly Roll, the first step was “saying, ‘maybe it’s OK that I’m not OK sometimes.’ I think we live in this world that it’s like, we gotta be OK all the time, and we see snapshots and reels of people just doing incredible in life in our feeds all the time, and we feel like maybe something’s wrong with us if we tell somebody, ‘hey, man, I don’t feel OK today,’ or something’s just not clicking right. …So, I started being more honest and more vulnerable. And I started crying, and now, I just can’t quit. Now I just cry all the time, you know? Now, when I pray, I’m like, ‘God, I asked you to soften my heart. Can we get a little tough again?’
Jelly Roll and Clarkson went on to talk about how to communicate with their kids about emotions. Th reigning CMA New Artist of the Year also spoke about working with a judge (who previously sentenced him) to help at-risk youth, how Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson became a fan, his new album, and fulfilling his dream of headlining Stagecoach. The pair also teamed up on a duet version of Jelly Roll’s “I Am Not Okay.” Watch the performance here: