How Lucky is Bri to be Free of ZB
Brianna LaPaglia, most commonly known as Brianna Chickenfry, is an internet personality, known for her podcast, BFFs, with Josh Richards and Dave Portnoy. She blew up even more when she started dating Zach Bryan, country artist superstar. But then, something crazy happened–they broke up. Now, I am not one who follows celebrity breakups, as most of the time they turn into publicity stunts. However, this breakup was unwarranted and unexpected to everyone.
I don’t want to dismiss what Brianna has said and done, as Brianna has rung up quite the backlash. Old comments have resurfaced of her using the N-word and in a video with her and her best friend Grace, she victim blamed Grace for an experience with an older man. Going through TikTok, the podcast, and Instagram, some comments talk about how they don’t like Brianna, but more people don’t like Zach. Those who have been going to his concerts have been posting that they wish Brianna was there or that his songs now have a new meaning to them.
Here is a timeline of their break up, with some key quotes of course.
About 4 weeks ago the BFF podcast posted an hour-long video that dishes out how the breakup went down. The video starts with Brianna in her house debriefing the situation.
Brianna went on tour with Zach for a whole year. She explained how this experience was very lonely as she didn’t know anyone but Zach. Towards the end of the tour, she started to plan her own tour, but made sure she could still go to all of his shows.
Zach dropped her off in New York City and said that he was going back to Boston, but would make sure to come to her tour. She explained that she knew he wouldn’t end up going.
This is where the shift happened. Brianna was correct and Zach did not go to her tour, but instead threw a pop-up concert in New York City even though he told Brianna he needed to sit still for a while and relax. He stayed up all night and wouldn’t text her back. When her tour was in Seattle, he texted her saying that their relationship wasn’t going to work anymore.
Brianna flew back to Boston where she was told to start moving out. All she asked for was a conversation.
Zach, then, started texting her saying that he needed her back in his life and that he missed her. Because she still had so much love for him, she did.
Zach never apologized and even told her: “I can apologize but I can’t do it right now”
She then had her live show, where she said this was a horrible experience with him and that she doesn’t think she will ever go into details. When she woke up she got the cold shoulder and Zach expressed how he was going back to Oklahoma which she has been pushing him to do, yet he still wouldn’t have a conversation about where they stood.
Before he left, she asked for a hug, knowing it would probably be the last one. Zach replied, “You’re being so fucking dramatic”.
The only breakup conversation they had was when it was confirmed that he was on the celebrity dating app, Raya. Women were DMing her on Instagram asking why Zach was on a dating app, to which Brianna was shocked that he would do that before they announced they weren’t together anymore. Apparently, Zach never deleted Raya, he just inactivated it.
Brianna responded to the Raya situation with, “I don’t think you need Raya, I think you need therapy”. Zach then posted a black screen with text that read “Addressing something: Brianna and me have broken up with eachother and I respect and love her with every ounce of my heart. She has loved me unconditionally for a very long time and for that I’ll always thank her. I have had an incredibly hard year personally and struggled through some pretty severe things. I thought it would be beneficial for us to go our different ways. I am not perfect and never will be. Please respect Brianna’s privacy and space in this and if you have it in your heart, mine too. With everything I am and to anyone I let down, I am sorry. I try my best in everything. I failed people that love me and mostly myself”. Then, after posting that, he posted a picture of a truck. Now, I want to come in here personally to say it’s shocking for Zach to be good with words in his songs, but have horrible grammar.
Brianna’s friends and family found out about their breakup from Zach’s Instagram story post. She never had a chance to tell them, even though she asked Zach to wait a week so she could process everything.
Zach offered 13 million dollars over three years for her to be monitored and not talk about anything that happened in their relationship. Brianna did not accept.
Josh and Dave made a Zach Bryan diss track. It has since been taken down.
Brianna gets her hair done, it looks fabulous, she is glowing.
Posted a Tik Tok saying “Last November I was sobbing almost every night and made to feel worthless by the person who said they loved me the most. This November I’m being reminded who I am and that your worth is NOT defined by romantic relationships.”
Was seen out with another man, and tabloids said she was dating someone knew. She explained that she was just having fun and they hung out for two days before he flew back home. Celebrities are people too, they can have flings, sex for fun, or start dating after a long term relationship. These are things that are normal and depend on what a person needs.
Brianna has blamed herself for some of this breakup as she said she let it happen to herself. She talked about how she kept showing up when she shouldn’t have, and said “If you are not getting the love you are giving then you have to walk away”. A lot of women understand this feeling and it is not uncommon for women to stay in bad relationships. In a Glamour article, women discussed that they stayed in relationships because they felt like a failure if they left, they thought things would get better with time, their love could change their partner, or just because they were afraid to leave (Glamour). It is commonly known that it takes women 7-10 times to break free of a toxic relationship. While we don’t know if their relationship involved any aggression or violence, 1 in 4 women will experience domestic violence. It is not your fault for staying, your head and heart are screaming two different things to each other. If you are in this situation, give yourself grace and reach out for help.
“Domestic Violence Statistics.” The Hotline, 4 July 2023, www.thehotline.org/stakeholders/domestic-violence-statistics/#:~:text=1%20in%204%20women%20.
Robinson, Akirah. “Women Share: Why I Stayed in an Unhealthy Relationship.” Glamour, Glamour, 18 Oct. 2014, www.glamour.com/story/why-i-stayed-bad-relationship.