Brianna “Chickenfry” LaPaglia Compares Ex Zach Bryan to a “Doom Cloud” After Split - E! Online
Three months after her breakup from country singer Zach Bryan, Brianna “Chickenfry” LaPaglia reflected on the negativity their year-long relationship brought into her life.
Watch : Zach Bryan Defends Himself After Brianna “Chickenfry” LaPaglia Breakup
Brianna LaPaglia is finding sunnier skies.
Three months after Zach Bryan announced the end of their year-long relationship, the TikToker—who is also known as Brianna “Chickenfry” on social media—revealed that the country singer’s behavior was dimming her light during their relationship.
“When I walk into a room, I want to talk to everyone,” she told Sports Illustrated in an interview published Jan. 15. “When the relationship first started, that became a problem for him; I was talking too much or I was being too much, and maybe the spotlight was not on him enough.”
“That’s how he made me feel,” she continued. “’Oh, I need to dim myself down.’”
But after leaving her toxic relationship in the past, she shared how great it’s felt to bask in the small joys of engaging total strangers in pleasant small talk.
“I’m walking down the street, I’m at the crosswalk—I’m sparking up a conversation,” Brianna said. “I’m in the bodega, talking to the bodega guy for 20 minutes too long now. I’m finally talking to my hairdresser again, where I used to just sit in the chair.”
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“I’m finding that little spark of life back in myself,” she added, “now that one person that felt like a doom cloud over me at all times is gone.”
After all, this wasn’t the first time the 25-year-old—who alleged she had been emotionally abused during her relationship with the “Pink Skies” singer—pointed out her ex’s toxic traits.
“In the beginning,” Brianna told Alix Earle on a December episode of the Hot Mess podcast, “he was so amazed by how strong a woman I was. I was so opinionated—it was like his favorite thing about me. Like every room I walked into, I'm the same person in every room.”
“Then slowly it just started deteriorating,” she continued. “It would start with like little nitpicks about, ‘Well I think you're better than this job.’ Or ‘you shouldn't really say that online, I don't really like the way you dress.’ Just like little things where it makes you question like, ‘Oh are they right? ‘Cause they have my back with everything else, maybe they're looking out for me.’”
(Photo by Neilson Barnard/Getty Images for The Recording Academy)
As for what the “Something in the Orange” singer has to say about their split? While he hasn’t directly addressed the allegations Brianna made, he defended his friends that were getting backlash as collateral damage.
"I'm not asking for sympathy but going for my friends is so low and so messed up,” he said, in part, in a series of Instagram Stories Jan. 9. “Apparently I've [had] four different girlfriends in like two weeks meanwhile my friends and me are just laughing and hanging out like we always have."
"No matter how bad of a person you think I am, go ahead and come for me," the 28-year-old continued. "I can take all the hatred because I'm not a child. But do not come for my friends who do nothing but love and care for me."
For a full breakdown of Brianna and Zach’s breakup, keep reading…
YouTube/ Plan Bri Uncut
No News Yet
Breakup speculation was in full bloom after the Internet noticed fewer couple's posts than usual from Zach Bryan and Brianna "Chickenfry" LaPaglia, and commenters did not keep their suspicions to themselves.
"It was a bad week," Brianna acknowledged on the Oct. 2, episode of Barstool Sports' BFFs podcast when cohosts Dave Portnoy and Josh Richards quizzed her about the split rumors. "It's crazy, we don't post each other for a week, it took the Internet by storm. But he's going through a lot of personal stuff and I went home and just separated—we're together now and everything's OK."
Meanwhile, Zach was already on Dave's naughty list for making a crack about Taylor Swift (that he apologized for), but the Barstool Sports founder and self-proclaimed "King of the Swifties" allowed him one pass because he was Brianna's boyfriend.
Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic
Brianna LaPaglia Advises Not to Date Celebrities
Before it was publicly known that Brianna and Zach were no longer together, she advised against dating famous people during a sit-down on Haliey Welch's Talk Tuah podcast.
"I said on the BFFs [podcast] that I would never date anyone famous ever," Brianna noted on the episode released Oct. 22, the same day the breakup news broke. "Literally never wanted to and then it kinda just happened."
She didn't know why she changed her tune, she admitted. But, Brianna continued, "I wish it... don't date famous people."
On that note, she explained, "I think it’s better for the mental to not date someone famous. It's a lot."
Instagram/Brianna LaPaglia
Brianna's Cryptic Message Decoded
In an Oct. 21 Instagram post, Brianna had shared a photo of a handwritten note detailing some pretty intense feelings.
"And eventually you'll find that life goes even if you dont want it to: The days will pass and the world will move while you ask it to stop," the message read. "You'll believe life is cruel for continuing on while your feet are stuck. You'll find people and moments to blame for your concrete feet. Then there will come a morning when you wake and realize things go on, life isn't cruel your feet are. The world keeps on spinning in hopes of showing you that you can as well."
All was revealed the next day.
Instagram/Brianna LaPaglia
Brianna LaPaglia Says She's "Blindsided" by Zach Bryan Breakup Reveal
Less than an hour after Zach's Instagram Story went live Oct. 22, Brianna followed up with her own: "Hey guys I’m feeling really blindsided right now," she wrote. "Gonna hop off social media for a while and attempt to heal privately, when I'm ready I’ll be back and ready to talk."
She added, "I love you guys so much thank you for all of your kind words. Remember you are so loved and everything's always gonna be OK."
Plan Bri Uncut/YouTube
Brianna Felt "Discarded" by Zach Post-Split
Before the private healing commenced, Brianna said in an Oct. 22 YouTube video—recorded from the self-described "comfort" of her bathroom floor—that she had been "crying for like five days straight" when she woke up to Zach's post and its aftermath.
"I had no idea that post was going up," she said. "He didn't text me, he didn't call me. I just woke up to a bunch of texts being like, 'Are you okay?' and I'm like, 'Did my f--king dad die?'"
Reiterating that she was blindsided, she continued, "How can you give every ounce of yourself to someone and then be discarded of in a few days? It's really, really heartbreaking."
She didn't want to talk about it yet, Brianna added, but she would. "We broke up yesterday," she added, "so I wasn't ready to do anything publicly...I wanted to handle this as a human first."
All she wanted at the moment, she said, was to "just be hurt for a week and lay in bed."
Stacy Revere/Getty Images
Brianna's Boss Has Her Back
In the wake of her speaking out about the breakup, Dave shared a YouTube link to Taylor's "The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived" and dedicated it to Brianna.
That, in turn, was screenshotted by a friend who posted on Brianna's Instagram Story on her behalf Oct 24, writing atop the pointed pic, "(Bris off socials but she gave me the green light for this) she'll be back Wednesday for bffs. she is with friends and family. I've been screenshotting some of your kind words and sending them to her. She loves you."
Todd Williamson/NBC via Getty Images
Brianna Sets Boundaries
Addressing speculation that there was a rift between her and PlanBri Uncut podcast cohost Grace O'Malley because she didn't publicly wish her pal a happy birthday, Brianna returned to Instagram Story Oct. 30 to set a few things straight.
"Not allowing the internet to take over my personal relationships anymore,” Brianna wrote. "Need to set some boundaries and keep some things to myself."
In a separate post, she wrote, "I'm not interested in sharing my personal relationships online anymore because the internet wants so badly to ruin them all. Grace has been like a sister since I was 15 years old. I wished her a happy birthday privately."
Dave Portnoy/Instagram
Untortured Poets Department
BFFs hosts Dave and Josh found a creative outlet for their frustrations, releasing a diss track they called "Smallest Man."
"I said trust me, caught your pants on fire," began the song posted to YouTube Nov. 6. "Tinder, Bumble, Raya, knew you was a liar / You're a douchebag, you just made a new rival / Pretty soon you going to need a revival."
The track was initially blocked by Warner Music Group, citing copyright grounds, before resurfacing that same day.
In a post on X, Dave noted the temporary setback: "Zach Bryan and @warnermusic must have the worst crisis management execs in the world. Running around like chickens with their heads cut off trying to erase #smallestman from the internet. Did nobody tell them I run an internet company? They just guaranteed this thing hits #1."
He and Josh had teased the track on Instagram Nov. 5, and when a commenter accused them of not being brave enough to tag Zach, Brianna waded in and replied, "We r all blocked."
Christopher Polk/Variety via Getty Images
Alternate Route
After seemingly not acknowledging any of the conversation coming from Brianna's corner, Zach picked Nov. 7 to release his song "High Road" and provide a status update.
He had visited his mother's gravesite a few nights back for the first time in more than a year, he wrote on Instagram, noting he was in Tulsa.
"Told her I quit touring because I got accepted to get my masters in Paris next year," he continued, "I told her I was back in Oklahoma, told her about all my best friends in New York and all the nights we howled with the moon, told her about the immeasurable laughter my band and me have shared these last five years, all the calluses on my finger tips, every tear shed, told her about making it on The Rolling Stone and most importantly told her about porch swinging with my beautiful sister."
He added, "I wrote the chorus for this song a month or two back and finished it when I realized I was blessed with all these things. I figured it was about time I released it. Thank you guys for listening to ‘This Worlds a Giant' last night and thank you to all the people who love me; who have truly carried the weight with me. Seems that all these Quiet Dreams have gotten much too heavy but I’m home now and I’ll hold you through the pain."
Brianna LaPaglia/Instagram
Brianna Alleges Emotional Abuse
Brianna has alleged that her relationship with Zach was emotionally abusive.
"The last year of my life has been the hardest year of my life," she told Dave and Josh on the Nov. 7 episode of BFFs. "Dealing with the abuse from this dude—I'm still scared right now."
The 25-year-old said her brain had been "rewired" from being afraid to make her ex mad.
"He made me believe everything was my fault," Brianna continued. "He isolated me from my whole entire life. He wouldn't let me be who I wanted to be. He made me hate everything that I loved about myself."
Zach had "love bombed her," she said, and she ignored multiple red flags.
After four relatively smooth months, she said, he broke her down so that she felt "like he was all I had left, and he just kept repeatedly beating me down and beating me down."
Brianna also alleged during the episode that Zach's team offered her $12 million to sign an NDA and stay silent about their relationship.
While she didn't want money that reminded her of her ex, Brianna said she didn't decline just to be free to air their secrets either.
Rather, Brianna said, "I'm not signing away my experiences and what I went through to protect someone that hurt me."
E! News reached out to Zach for comment but has not heard back.
After they recorded, Dave wrote on X, "I know people have lots of strong opinions on Bri but after tonight's episode there can't be anybody who doesn't respect the s--t out of her."
Brianna LaPaglia/Instagram
"I knew I was making the right decision," Brianna wrote on her Instagram Story Nov. 7 after the episode dropped. "And I believe not going all out and not telling everything was the right decision too. You get the picture."
She continued, "Your messages have made me sob. I can't believe how many women and men have experienced the same abuse. You have me, I'll be a voice for you all always. If I can stand up to someone in power you can stand up to the bum from your hometown. This is all two weeks out so I'm still processing everything I went through. I'll continued to process and heal with you all! I love you I love you I love you."
A couple of hours later, she shared a video shot by an audience member at a stop on Barstool's Chicks in the Office: Little Fall Getaway Tour during a live performance of "Smallest Man," highlighting the lyric, "How lucky is Bri to be free of ZB."
Brianna LaPaglia/TikTok
Getting by With Not That Much Help From Her Friends
Brianna denied that Dave offered her $10 million to spill her guts on the BFFs pod for...clicks?
"Dave didn't give me any money," she said in a Nov. 9 TikTok. "A tell-all? You think that was a tell-all? I took the high road. What I did was set a scene, paint a picture, and if you can't see that very clear picture, I don't have time to hold your hand and walk you to LensCrafters, okay? Sorry."
Moreover, she continued, "I am losing money right now. I am paying for storage, I am paying for movers, I am paying for f--king flights back and forth to New York to go and try and find an apartment."
TikTok/Brianna Chickenfry
But She's Keeping the Art
Gesturing to the "How lucky are we" tattoo on her arm—a line from Zach's song "28"—she insisted, "That was my thing. That was my tattoo. Now we're matching, it's OK, I don't get it removed."
Scott Legato/Getty Images
The Sound of Silence
Zach has yet to publicly respond to Brianna's allegations of emotional abuse, and she has a theory as to why he hasn't said a word. (But he has posted unrelated—if perhaps subtly inspired by—content on social media. And his comments are turned off.)
“I obviously think he's not responding because if he is to respond, he has to deny it,” she said on the Nov. 13 episode of BFFs, "then I post all the videos and the recordings."
“I think the response itself, the silence, is deafening," she continued. "I think his response proves his character again."
She could have spilled more tea right away, Brianna continued, but was leaving the door open for Zach to come clean.
"I don't believe people are lost causes," she said. "It was my final cry at help to try to get him to see what he does to people and to try to get him to get help."
Dave Portnoy/Instagram
Dropping One F...
Dave has heard enough.
In announcing that he'd be leaving BFFs at the end of the year, the 47-year-old said on the Nov. 14 episode of The Unnamed Show, "The subjects don't interest me at all. They show me the topics when I go in there, I haven't done any research, and I'm just ripping apart 18-year-olds, who I don’t even know. I don't love necessarily doing that."
(However, he does make it clear when he's enjoying ripping into somebody, and his ongoing convos with Brianna and Josh for the time being remain boisterous.)
"Josh and Bri will continue it," he noted. "It's super successful, but yeah, it's time for me to try the next thing. I had run my course with it."
TikTok / Brianna LaPaglia
Ring-a-Ding-Ding
Without naming names, Brianna shared that she turned down an advance from her celebrity crush because she was involved with some other guy who tried to put a ring on it while he was simultaneously cheating on her.
"Fun fact my biggest celeb crush tried to slide a few months ago," she captioned a Nov. 15 TikTok featuring her lip-synching to Cardi B's "Be Careful." "But of course i denied bc i had a bf and i was getting cheated on the whole time hahhahahahahah."
Brianna added in the comments, "Been finding out he was cheating the whole time lol. The week he showed me my engagement ring he was dming girls hahahahah."
TikTok/Brianna Chickenfry
A New Bloke?
"Sometimes all you need is a nyc sunrise. And some good pals," Brianna captioned a Nov. 17 TikTok—a video of herself and her friends (including "one of the Australian boys" she'd referred to the day before) watching the sunrise in Brooklyn set to Taylor Swift’s “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart."
"So when I was out with the Aussie boy yesterday, I got approved," she said in another Nov. 17 TikTok after a long few weeks of NYC apartment-hunting. "And then we went and we celebrated. It was fun. We went to Central Park, and we went and got drinks and then all the other dudes met up with us and my friends came."
And when a friendly neighborhood commenter offered, "That was fast," Brianna fired back, "Well, I was cheated on my whole relationship, so yeah.”
Instagram/Brianna LaPaglia
"You guys think I’m ever going to have a boyfriend again?" Brianna quipped in a Nov. 18 video in response to a headline speculating that she'd embarked on a new romance. "I’m in intensive therapy."
As for Aussie boy, she continued, "I said in my video before that, I’m hanging out with a guy who’s going back to Australia. I’m never gonna see him again. Am I not allowed to live a little? Am I not allowed to smooch a little?"
And for now, Brianna—fresh from lightening her locks—is turning the tables.
"I'm single for the first time—in my life, practically, in my adult life, the first time I've been single," she mused in a Nov. 22 TikTok. "I cannot recommend it more! Women in men's fields, I am making people fall in love with me and then ghosting them."
Keith Griner/Getty Images
On Jan. 9, Zach called out "couch warriors attacking and belittling my friends" in a series of Instagram Stories.
"I'm not asking for sympathy but going for my -friends- is so low and so messed up," he continued. "I love my life. I have worked REALLY hard for it. Whether you think I deserve it or not. Whether you think I suck or not. Stop being such sad fat fingered internet sleuths to my friends."
While the "Something in the Orange" singer not address Briana's allegations about their relationship, he did say he was "so terrifying unphased by the fake s--t people say about me online."
"Coming for people I love and care for is my line and final straw," Zach wrote of his online critics. "I've said what I needed to say. My chest is still out and heads are still held high."
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