Zach Bryan confirms breakup with Brianna LaPaglia: ‘I failed people that love me’
Zach Bryan and Brianna “Chickenfry” LaPaglia have broken up after one year of dating.
The “Pink Skies” singer announced the split Tuesday on his Instagram story, confirming speculation that arose Monday after screenshots of a dating app profile presumably belonging to Bryan circulated online. But even if fans were waiting on a breakup announcement, LaPaglia said just hours after Bryan broke the news that she was “blindsided.”
Zach Brian and podcast host Brianna Chickenfry were in a ‘traumatizing side-by-side car crash’ during the country singer’s Quittin’ Time tour, she says.
“Addressing something,” Bryan wrote, “Brianna and me have broken up with each other 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.”
The Grammy winner said it has been “an incredibly hard year personally,” during which he has “struggled through some pretty severe things.” In the end, he said, he decided it would be best if he and LaPaglia went their separate ways.
“I am not perfect and never will be,” he said. “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.”
Hours later, LaPaglia seemingly responded to Bryan’s post.
“Hey guys I’m feeling really blindsided right now,” the internet personality said on her Instagram story, sharing plans to “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 said, closing her post with a message to her fans: “Remember you are so loved and everything’s always gonna be okay.”
Monday’s concert was the second of three for the country star at the Lakers’ downtown home behind last year’s ‘Zach Bryan,’ which debuted atop the Billboard charts.
Bryan and LaPaglia started dating in July 2023 and made their red carpet debut in February at the 2024 Grammys, where the self-producing country artist won his first award for “I Remember Everything,” his chart-topping duet with Kacey Musgraves.
LaPaglia previously debunked breakup rumors surrounding the couple on the Oct. 2 episode of Barstool Sports’ “BFFs” podcast, which she co-hosts with Dave Portnoy and Josh Richards.
Weeks before the episode aired, Bryan was slammed for a since-deleted tweet in which he suggested Kanye West’s superiority over Taylor Swift. He later apologized for the post, saying he “was drunkenly comparing two records and it came out wrong.”
“That was a really bad week for me. I deleted all of my social media,” LaPaglia said. “I don’t want to speak for Zach, but he kind of spoke for himself on Instagram. He’s just going through a lot of personal s— and I feel like I’m taking the brunt of all of it.”
“I mean, it’s crazy. We don’t post each other for a week and it took the internet by storm,” she said, insisting that after a week apart, the pair was “together now and everything’s OK.”
Before changing her tune Tuesday, LaPaglia a day prior had posted a cryptic passage about letting go of the past.
“Eventually you’ll find that life goes on, even if you don’t want it to: The days will pass and the world will move while you ask it to stop,” the passage read.
“The world keeps spinning in hopes of showing you that you can as well.”
Bryan is currently on a break from his Quittin Time Tour, which resumes Nov. 17 in Alberta, Canada.
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