Brianna LaPaglia Hints at Possible Engagement With Zach Bryan Before Breakup
For Brianna LaPaglia , hindsight is everything.
The TikToker—who is also known as Brianna “Chickenfry” on social media—has not shied away from sharing the high highs and lower lows throughout her relationship with Zach Bryan in the weeks since their October breakup .
And that includes what she is now realizing were warning signs along the way.
“I think the red flags and like what people should look out for is like such an intense bond so quickly,” Brianna told Alix Earle during the Dec. 12 episode of the latter’s Hot Mess podcast. Like when you get into it you think it's cool and it's fun and you're like, ‘This is my soulmate.’ But if someone is telling you they're your f--king soulmate on day two of hanging out, run for the f--king hills.”
The 25-year-old also spoke to how Zach’s apparent perception of her changed from the early days of their relationship.
“In the beginning,” Brianna explained, “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.”
She continued, “Then slowly it just started deteriorating. 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.’”
And to those listening who might think they would see through the red flags, the social media star also had a message.
Instagram/Brianna LaPaglia
“You don't know until you're in it,” Brianna added, responding to Alix’s question of whether Zach’s fame played a role with, “100 percent. I'll be so honest about that—like if this was a normal Joe Schmo, maybe him getting me tattooed on him after a week, I would have been like, ‘That's f--king crazy.’ But because he was him, I'm like, ‘Oh that's rockstar.’ But that should have been a red flag.”
Brianna also admitted that during her relationship with the “Something in the Orange” singer, she would try to have conversations with Zach’s “circle” about the 28-year-old’s alleged behavior only to get shut down.
“No one talks about it because when money is involved, everything gets like thrown under the rug and money rules everything,” she added. “With him and with money and power you're just surrounded by ‘yes men.’ So I would try to have these conversations and it would just be an echo chamber of, ‘Oh he's just a tortured soul, he's just like this.’”
She continued, “But it's like no, he's just a bad person. You don't get to blame treating people horribly on your tortured soul, just because you can write a song.”
Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic
And indeed, money had played a big role in the former couple’s breakup narrative after Brianna revealed Zach’s team allegedly offered her $12 million to sign a non-disclosure agreement , or NDA.
“I was approached by his team and I was offered a lot of money—like, a big lump sum of money—and a few options," Brianna said during the Nov. 7 episode of Barstool Sports' BFFs podcast . "Basically, I would have gotten the money over the course of three years. I would have had to sign all of my experiences, everything that I am away to this person."
She added, "They would have been monitoring everything that I do."
E! News reached out to Zach’s team at the time but did not hear back. For his part, the country artist has not responded directly to Brianna’s abuse allegations.
Plan Bri Uncut/YouTube
And while she admitted she thought about accepting the offer, Brianna said she ultimately chose her freedom over the money, knowing she was “someone who was established, who was successful before him.”
"I'm gonna be someone, I'm gonna be established, I'm gonna be successful after him," she explained. "Maybe I'm not gonna be selling out stadiums and f--king making hundreds of millions of dollars—I'm alright where I'm at, and I don't want blood money."
For more on the former couple’s breakup timeline, keep reading.
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.
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 BFF s [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."
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."
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
Mic Drop
"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."
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 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."
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
Boo!
"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."
For the latest breaking news updates, click here to download the E! News App