Influencer Brianna LaPaglia, aka "Brianna Chickenfry," is voicing her shock after country singer Zach Bryan announced their breakup on social media.
In an Instagram story published Oct. 22, Bryan revealed that he and LaPaglia split, adding, "I respect and love her with every ounce of my heart."
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"She has loved me unconditionally for a very long time and for that I'll always thank her," he continued.
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The "Something in the Orange" singer explained that he felt the two should split after he "had an incredibly hard year personally and struggled through some pretty severe things."
"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," he wrote. "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."
About an hour after Bryan posed, LaPaglia also took to her Instagram story, sharing that she was feeling "really blindsided."
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"Hey guys I'm feeling really blindsided right now. 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 wrote.
LaPaglia then thanked followers for their "kind words," before writing, "Remember you are so loved and everything's always gonna be okay."
In a follow-up video shared to YouTube, LaPaglia reiterated that she was “completely blindsided” by the Instagram announcement.
“I just woke up to Zach posting on his Instagram that we broke up and I had no idea that post was going up,” she said. “He didn’t text me. He didn’t call me.”
LaPaglia explained that she was only prompted to check Bryan’s post when she received texts asking if she was OK.
“I was completely blindsided by that. I also genuinely feel like I have — see how swollen my face is? I’ve been crying for like five days straight,” she said.
“I’m at the point where it’s like, how can you give someone everything and love them so unconditionally — like through stuff that you shouldn’t, but you just love them and you just see the good in them — like how can you ... give every ounce of yourself to someone and then be discarded of in a few days?” she continued. “It’s really, really heartbreaking.”
LaPaglia said she doesn’t want to talk about details surrounding their breakup at this time, but added that she eventually will.
“Right now, I wanted to heal privately and I didn’t even know he was going to post that. And we broke up yesterday,” she said. “So I wasn’t ready to do anything publicly.”
She then asked that people respect her privacy and respect that she’ll “talk about everything” when she’s ready, also thanking people for their “kind messages.”
“I’m going to be OK. I’m going to be fine. I’m just obviously really, really hurt right now,” she said.
When did Zach Bryan and Brianna Chickenfry start dating?
The "Barstool Sports" host first announced that she had been "hanging out" with Bryan for three weeks on a July 2023 episode of her podcast “PlanBri Uncut.”
“It’s fun, it’s casual and yeah, I just wanted to address it because the whole internet is freaking the f--- out and people are doing s---” she said.
About a month later, LaPaglia publicly called herself Bryan's girlfriend for the first time on an August 2023 episode of her “BFFs” podcast, which she co-hosts with Dave Portnoy and Josh Richards.
At the time, she explained that she initially kept the relationship under wraps because "I just got out of a relationship, he just got out of a relationship," but decided to go public when a photo went viral.
On July 14, LaPaglia shared a series of photos with Bryan for their one-year anniversary, writing that it had been "a year full of loving harder than I thought I was capable of and laughing louder than any year before."
“You’ve made me appreciate all the things that were always right in front of me. You brought me back home to my family and you’ve helped me love myself again,” she captioned the post. “There isn’t a damn thing I wouldn’t do for ya. My person forever. I love you my Zachary.”
LaPaglia's most recent post with Bryan was on Oct. 11, where she shared a photo of him holding a guitar standing next to her. She wrote, "How are you gonna live a life you look forward to looking back on ?"
Bryan primarily posts about his music on his Instagram page, but the singer shared a similar photo the same day as LaPaglia with the location set to Los Angeles.
He captioned the post, "We’ll lose loved ones and never let them die, we’ll grow up and keep them alive, it will take undeniable steam, our timing will be off sometimes, you’ll chase the unknown and give it too much."
This story first appeared on TODAY.com. More from TODAY:
