Months before the December announcement that their joint podcast PlanBri Uncut was ending, speculations about the state of their 15-year friendship were taking shape online. The rift in the pair's dynamic became clearer in October after Brianna's explosive breakup with Zach Bryan.
Brianna shared her perspective on their friendship's end, which she believes began during her one-year relationship with her ex-boyfriend. (She alleged that the "I Remember Everything" singer was emotionally abusive. Zach has not publicly addressed her claims.)
"When you're in an abusive relationship, it f--ks up your friendships," Brianna said on the Dec. 11 episode of her BFFs podcast with cohosts Josh Richards and Dave Portnoy. "She saw a lot of it firsthand. She knew what I was going through and it was obviously really, really hard. She hated him from the jump."
Although the 25-year-old acknowledged that her relationship with Zach "put a wedge" in their friendship, she was hopeful that Grace—who announced her exit from Barstool Sports Dec. 16—would still be by her side.
"I would go to her and be like, 'I feel like because you hate Zach so much, you're forgetting to separate that I'm your best friend,'" Brianna recalled. "'You can hate him, but you can still be there for me.' She never was. She knew everything that I was going through."
According to Brianna, Grace struggled to maintain a close bond with her during her on-again-off-again romance with Zach. She explained that the decision to end PlanBriin October was due to the state of their friendship.
"I couldn't do the podcast anymore because we're sitting there pretending to be friends," Brianna said. "I just don't feel seen by her. I needed to set a boundary of like, 'I can't continue this show anymore.'"
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She hoped that her decision would eventually improve their personal lives, adding, "I thought ending the podcast was going to mean we could fix our friendship because working together with your best friend is hard."
For Grace's part, although the 26-year-old hasn't addressed all the claims on social media, she did joke about their rift at a recent comedy show.
"I'm sorry if I'm not myself tonight," she quipped at the Helium Comedy Club in Indianapolis Dec. 12. "I'm going through a divorce with a few minor differences. For example, it's not a marriage, it was a 15-year friendship. She's not keeping the house, she's keeping the podcast."
"When it came to the kids, we took a very progressive approach," she continued of the pair's fanbase. "Instead of doing shared custody, we're letting the kids decide who they want to go with."
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Despite the fact that Brianna and Grace—who became best friends at age 10—mutually decided to conclude their podcast, the situation only became more complicated after Brianna revealed on her Instagram Stories Dec. 4 that PlanBri was going to return as "some version" of its original after it was named one of Spotify's Breakout Creators of 2024.
Following the post, Grace shared on her Instagram Stories that it was her "first time hearing about" a new iteration of the podcast and that they had allegedly planned to release a joint statement about its conclusion.
The duo's comments came after months of assuring fans they were still on good terms, especially after Brianna didn't share a birthday tribute to Grace in October.
"Grace has been like a sister since I was 15 years old," she said on her Instagram Stories. "I wished her a happy birthday privately. I'm sorry, but I'm having a week from hell and I'm tired of having to feel the need to explain myself to people who don't know me. Love ya guys and that's all there is to it."
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"All anyone does on there is talk about my life," she continued. "I'm not interested in sharing my personal relationships online anymore because the internet so badly wants to ruin them all."
However, both Grace and Brianna had previously acknowledged that their friendship had changed after the latter floated the idea of doing a solo podcast.
"Things have been changing between the both of us and we weren't fully communicating how we felt to each other," Grace explained on PlanBri Uncut in May. Meanwhile, Brianna chimed in, "We just weren't wanting the same exact things like we always wanted."
For more celebrity friendships that took a turn, keep reading.