Even as his star continues to rise, Jelly Roll knows there is still work to be done mentally, physically and spiritually.

On Jay Shetty’s “On Purpose” podcast, the Grammy-nominated singer reflected on his arrests, including one for armed robbery at age 15, in the hope that his victims would forgive him.

“I would really like to have a conversation with them. I’ve been thinking about reaching out. This was now 24 years ago. And I just don’t know how that would even start – you know, how I would go about it – because sometimes I wonder if maybe they’ve seen me in passing or are aware of my success,” Jelly Roll said, adding that they are on his ‘change list’.

“I would just ask them to understand, I would ask them to just forgive me because there is no excuse for that. The first responsibility is that no matter how old I was, I was not allowed to take anything from anyone. Only the right that I had, this the world owed me enough so that I could come and get your things.

Jelly Roll said he hopes the victims of his armed robbery forgive him. (Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)

JELLY ROLL ‘HAD A LOT OF TIME’ TO WRITE SONGS IN PRISON BEFORE ENJOYED SUCCESS IN COUNTRY MUSIC

“Looking back now, I don’t know what I was trying to be,” the 39-year-old said. “This is how I know I was fifteen, because the more I try to make sense of it, I can’t. There was no logic in what I did. It made absolutely no sense. And I learned so much from it and the way I deal with people.”

Jelly Roll also said he hoped the victims would see how much he has changed and that “money doesn’t create character, it reveals it.”

The “Save Me” singer first went to juvenile detention at the age of 13 and spent years in and out of prison.

Reflecting on his experiences as a teenager behind bars, he said: “I missed high school. I missed any kind of normal socializing, any kind of growing up, what would develop in those areas. And I developed in a room. And by the way, I committed a crime that deserved it, but I developed in a room with stone-white walls, a steel dresser and a steel bunk bed and a cell six by eight, two meters wide, eight and a half meters long. . By the time I was an adult, I had to sleep with my legs curled. I couldn’t stretch all the way, you know. I’ll never forget being seventeen and realizing I had grown so big I couldn’t fit the length of the bed anymore.”

Jelly Roll recalled being in prison as a teenager and said he missed high school and “any kind of normal socializing.” (WWE/Getty Images)

JELLY ROLL EMBRACES ROLE IN COUNTRY MUSIC REVOLUTION AFTER OVERCOMING ADDICTION AND PRISON TIME

Jelly Roll, born Jason DeFord, credits these experiences with making him the person he is today.

“I wouldn’t be the man I am today if I hadn’t been through everything. I think it gave me strength. I think it gave me my voice,” he told Fox News Digital during the 2023 CMAs.” It taught me a lot about overcoming. It taught me a lot about change and the ability to change.

“When I try to make logic out of it, it doesn’t work. There was no logic in what I did. It made absolutely no sense.”

– Jellyroll

“I was a terrible person for decades, and to be able to turn that around and give a message in the music and help people… and just try to give back as much as I can in any way I can is very indicative of true true where I come from and how important it is for me to always go back.”

During his time in prison, he earned his GED and enrolled in Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous. He also found a Christian program called Jericho that connected him more deeply with his faith.

Despite saying he was a “terrible person” for decades, Jelly Roll turned his life around in prison through several programs, including a Christian program that helped him connect with his faith. (Theo Wargo/Getty Images for Global Citizen)

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT NEWSLETTER

In an interview with Fox News Digital ahead of the 2024 CMT Music Awards, Jelly Roll explained that his faith in God has been his “driving force.”

“The belief was that a lot of me believed that it would work out for me,” he said. “Can you imagine being a 37-year-old failed musician telling people this is your job?”

The Tennessee native rose to fame in 2021 with his album ‘Ballad of the Broken’, but had been working on a breakthrough in the music world for years, first in hip-hop and then in country.

“It wasn’t like something I did on the side. It was my job. And I just always had faith that God had a bigger purpose for what I was trying to do,” Jelly Roll said.

Jelly Roll told Fox News Digital: “I always believed that God had a greater purpose for what I was trying to do.” (Cindy Ord)

JELLY ROLL BROUGHT HIS OWN MIXTAPES TO ITS DRUG DEALS: ‘IT WAS LIKE MY BUSINESS CARD’

In his acceptance speech at the 2024 iHeartRadio Awards, he spoke about how faith guided his journey.

“What does it mean when a guy like me gets the opportunity to be the new pop artist of the year at (the) iHeartRadio Awards? It means that God will always use the least likely messenger with the greatest message,” he says. said.

Jelly Roll uses his status as a public figure to speak out about the issues that have affected his life.

In January, he testified before Congress about the fentanyl crisis, highlighting his past as a drug dealer.

“I was part of the problem. I stand here now as a man who wants to be part of the solution,” he testified.

WATCH: JELLY ROLL URGES CONGRESS TO ACTION AGAINST FENTANYL WITH POWERFUL TESTIMONY

Do you like what you read? CLICK HERE FOR MORE ENTERTAINMENT NEWS

He explained that it is not a “victimless crime” and that the mother of his 16-year-old daughter is a drug addict.

“Every day I get to look into the eyes of a victim in my household because of the effects of drugs. Every day. And every day I have to wonder, me and my wife, if today will be the day I have to tell my daughter that her mother became part of national statistics.”

“I always believed that God had a greater purpose for what I was trying to do.”

– Jellyroll

He called on Congress to be “proactive, not reactive” and pass the FEND Off Fentanyl Act, legislation that targets Chinese chemical suppliers and Mexican drug cartels trafficking fentanyl with sanctions.

Jelly Roll has also opened the Youth Campus for Empowerment at the Davidson County Juvenile Justice Center in Nashville, where he was once incarcerated. He told local Fox affiliate WZTV during the groundbreaking that he hoped to improve conditions to help other struggling teens.

Jelly Roll helped open a new center to help troubled teens at the Davidson County Juvenile Justice Center in Nashville, where he was once imprisoned. (Getty Images)

JELLY ROLL performs at Oregon prison, where live music is possible for the first time in 20 years

“Get rid of stuff that makes you feel like a caged animal,” he told People newspaper. “Make these children feel loved and give them a chance in life. Many of these children are victims of their circumstances. This is truly a great opportunity to change things.”

He also donated a recording studio to the center in May.

During his interview on ‘On Purpose’, Jelly Roll said he had a ‘victim mentality’ before he changed his life.

“I was desperate and delusional. I was a desperate dreamer, and the desperate part got me into a lot of trouble,” he said. “I encourage delusional dreamers. Be a delusional dreamer. Just don’t be a desperate delusional dreamer, you know. But I definitely consciously made terrible decisions. I was just so angry. I was just so angry at life. Everything that was wrong, it was everyone’s fault but my own. I had such a victim mentality.

Jelly Roll said he has forgiven himself by taking responsibility for his past actions. (Ayisha Collins/FilmMagic/Getty Images)

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

“I didn’t take responsibility for anything in my life. I was the kid who, if you asked what was happening, immediately started with everything but myself. … And it took years before I could break that, like years of work, solid work, to break like that. It also took me years of work to even forgive that child.’