Syan Swanger
Staff Writer
I spent over two hours doing a deep dive into Zach Byran and Brianna LaPaglia’s, better known as Brianna Chickenfry, breakup. I heard so much about it on social media and I needed to know everything. After thorough research, I came back with over five pages of notes. I would have never expected their relationship to be this toxic. On paper, they were perfect for each other. But to put it frankly, Zach Bryan is manipulative, extremely emotionally abusive, and desperately needs therapy.
Understanding the relationship as a whole is crucial to understanding the breakup and why people are losing their minds over it. As LaPaglia has explained multiple times, yes people break up, but this is so much more.
So going back to the very start of their relationship, Zach Bryan and Brianna Lapaglia first met in May 2023 at the Academy of Country Music Awards. At this time they were both dating other people. Eventually, both relationships ended, and Bryan and LaPaglia began talking and later became exclusive.
In the most recent episode of Barstool’s BFFs podcast, LaPaglia gives fans some insight into Bryan’s toxic actions. The first time the pair hung out in person was when LaPaglia joined Bryan on a three-day road trip from Philadelphia to Oklahoma, Bryan’s hometown. LaPaglia explains that immediately after that trip Bryan began to love bomb her. He would go on about them being soulmates and even got a tattoo of LaPaglia on his arm. At this point, the two of them had only hung out once and were not officially dating yet, but Bryan began to act like he was in love.
After this initial hangout, their relationship was made official and LaPaglia admits that during the first four months, Bryan was perfect. He was an amazing and loving person and she was absolutely enamored by him. Then the facade came down and she got sucked into his emotionally abusive cycle. The next eight months of their relationship consisted of Byran screaming and then apologizing to LaPaglia. He created an environment where LaPaglia became emotionally dependent on him. He isolated her from her friends, family, and job. While she was renegotiating her contract with Barstool Sports, Bryan offered to pay double what Barstool offered for LaPaglia to quit her job and solely be his girlfriend.
Some notable moments of their relationship that establish Bryan’s abusive behavior include his freak out about LaPaglia’s Golden Globes outfit and his attendance at her most recent birthday. LaPaglia attended the 2024 Golden Globes with her best friend, Grace O’Malley, in January. LaPaglia posted pictures on Instagram of her red carpet outfit and Bryan lost his mind, demanding she take the post down and stating that he “didn’t want to date someone that presents themselves that way.” This was the first time Bryan forcibly tried to control how LaPaglia dressed and what she posted. Later at LaPaglia’s 24th birthday celebration, Bryan created a huge scene including screaming at her friends and smashing objects.
LaPaglia explains that she lost herself throughout this relationship. She lost 15 pounds and began to hate everything she had loved about herself. She was constantly aware of her actions and if they would make Bryan angry. She wasn’t allowed to listen to Noah Kahan, was berated for singing “Last Night” by Morgan Wallen, and had her phone thrown against a wall. Yet she stayed with Bryan because he “loved her,” “needed her,” and would “be better” for her.
Their relationship truly began to crumble just this past September amidst Bryan’s Overtime Tour. LaPaglia agreed to accompany Bryan on his tour. Since March, she’d been living on his tour bus and planning her life around him. Bryan planned to take a four-week break in September so he could be with LaPaglia while she and Grace O’Malley went on their podcast tour. When the time finally came for LaPaglia to begin her tour, Bryan claimed he didn’t have the energy to come along. He wanted to relax and just sit for a little bit after months on the road and constant performances. LaPaglia was very understanding and left him home as she went on her tour.
Bryan proved to be a total liar by performing a pop-up show in New York City and going out to bars multiple nights in a row. During his bender, he completely ignored LaPaglia. She didn’t hear from him until he sent a text stating, “I can’t do this anymore.” LaPaglia was blindsided. Just a couple of weeks prior, the two were talking about marriage and now she is being told over text that Bryan is done. LaPaglia finished out her tour and when she returned home, she found that she’d been kicked out of her and Bryan’s shared house in Boston. After a couple of days, Bryan claims he made a mistake and begs LaPaglia to come back. She agreed and the couple discussed how to move forward.
LaPaglia thought things had been worked out and looked to the future, but Bryan had other plans. He began to give her the cold shoulder and eventually left abruptly for Oklahoma. He wouldn’t give LaPaglia a solid answer on where their relationship stood and left without even giving her a hug. This was the last time the couple saw each other.
Bryan and LaPaglia finally had their breakup talk over text while he was in Oklahoma and she was in Boston. They agreed that the breakup would be publicly announced once LaPaglia had time to process it in private. That night, just hours after their breakup, LaPaglia receives messages from people saying that Bryan is on the dating app Raya. When she confronts Bryan about creating a dating profile he responds, “I didn’t make a dating profile. I reactivated it.” LaPaglia was understandably upset and embarrassed. She went to bed without talking to Bryan again.
LaPaglia woke up the next morning to a flood of texts and calls from friends and family. She learned that the night before, Bryan posted an Instagram story publicly announcing the breakup without her consent. This is when the entire internet goes up in flames.
Rumors are spread that Byran hooked up with a student from the University of Georgia while with LaPaglia. Dave Portnoy and Josh Richards, LaPaglia’s friends and coworkers at Barstool, release an insanely brutal diss track about Bryan, and Bryan’s management team offers LaPaglia 12 million dollars to sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA).
LaPaglia refused to sign the NDA because she didn’t want to give up her rights to discuss her experiences from the relationship. She wants to talk about it so that any other woman going through something similar knows she’s not alone. But the drama doesn’t end there. Bryan’s team, along with Warner Music, are attacking Portnoy and Richards for their diss track. Additionally, LaPalgia is still fighting with Bryan over ownership of her car.
This whole situation has been extremely disappointing to me. I am a huge Zach Bryan fan but learning about his behavior makes me sick. I am team Bri all the way, but I still love Zach Bryan’s music. I’m stuck in a battle of morals. Am I able to separate the art from the artist? Can I comfortably listen to him knowing that by doing so I’m supporting someone who I don’t believe is a good person? One thing I can confidently say after all of this is that I have incredible respect for Dave Portnoy and Josh Richards. They fiercely stood by Bri and proved over and over again to be loyal friends. Their diss track is also hilarious. It’s one of the best videos I’ve watched all year. I can only hope to be as iconic in a post-breakup as they were.