Brianna “Chickenfry” LaPaglia, the Barstool Sports media personality and recent ex-girlfriend of country superstar Zach Bryan, made her first appearance back on the BFFs podcast with Dave Portnoy and Josh Richards since she was “blindsided” by the breakup with Zach on Oct. 22. On the nearly 90-minute episode, which dropped on the night of Nov. 7, Brianna painfully detailed the inner turmoil she experienced during her 18-month relationship with the “Something In The Orange” singer. Clips of the episode have gone viral online since the show was posted.
While on the outside, it was a whirlwind romance that took Bri out of her New York City life and onto a tour bus for most of 2023, which both Brianna and Zach happily shared on their social media pages, behind the scenes, Brianna said she was in a toxic relationship with a “narcissist.”
Brianna Chickenfry Says Zach Bryan Relationship Was Toxic
Brianna Chickenfry was offered $12 million by Zach Bryan’s team for NDA
The episode, which as of this writing had over 1 million views, began with Brianna alone, speaking about some troubling details of her relationship.
“I just wanted to deal with my breakup privately, but that was robbed from me. So here we are,” she began, referring to Zach’s break-up announcement he posted to his Instagram stories the morning of Oct. 22, which Brianna said was unplanned. The two had broken up the night before, and Zach had promised that Brianna would get to announce the breakup on her own terms. She asked for a week to process the breakup privately, but after photos of Zach’s reactivated Raya account began circulating, Zach posted the breakup to his Instagram story, thereby violating the break-up terms they’d agreed to.
The biggest bombshell dropped was that Zach and his management team offered Brianna $12 million to sign an NDA and never speak about their relationship publicly. This tactic, it seemed, had worked for Zach’s previous relationships, including with ex-wife Rose Madden, whom he was married to from 2020 to 2021 (he allegedly blindsided Rose with a divorce while she was deployed with the U.S. Navy) and with ex-girlfriend Deb Peiffer, whom he dated from 2022 to 2023. Brianna referenced that she was not in the same position as the other two, and didn’t need to take the payout in exchange for her silence.
“I’m not the people before, and I was someone before you. And you made the women before me believe that they had no other choice than to take money from you, sign their experiences away, sign what they went through away. You get to go skip off and sing your little f***** songs on stage like you’re a good dude. You get to treat people around you like s***. Sorry, I’m not them.”
Brianna Chickenfry (no, that isn’t her real last name) is best known as a Barstool Sports media personality. She co-hosts two podcasts (the aforementioned BFFs and Plan Bri, with her best friend, Grace O’Malley) and makes a living out of spilling the details of her life. To think that after such a public relationship that she would be bought into silence infuriated Bri.
She claimed she struggled with whether or not to take the money, but ultimately decided not to.
“So pretty much after all set, like everything was done, 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. 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. They would have been monitoring everything that I do. And at the end of the three years, I’ll receive like that big lump sum of money, like throughout the years.”
Brianna said the NDA discussion changed throughout the weeks since the split, with her Barstool boss Dave Portnoy, the media mogul who is worth an estimated $150 million, advising her on what to do. According to Brianna, most people in her life, including her family, urged her to take the money.
“I thought about it for a second, and I think they [Zach’s management] tend to forget, I started to forget, that I was someone, I was established, I was successful before him. I’m going to be someone, I’m going to be established, I’m going to be successful after him. Maybe I’m not going to be selling out stadiums, and f***** making hundreds of millions of dollars. I’m all right where I’m at, and I don’t want blood money, and I don’t think you can pay people off that you hurt for them to protect you. I think that in itself, offering millions of dollars to this apparent beautiful relationship, to keep it a secret, speaks volumes.”
“I did not accept any money. I will not accept any money.”
Brianna Blames Herself For Certain Aspects Of The Relationship
Brianna: ‘I kept showing up when I shouldn’t have.’
Like many women coming to terms with the trauma of a toxic relationship, Brianna, 25, says she blames herself for the decision to stay with him when she knew she shouldn’t.
“I kept showing up when I shouldn’t have. And I kept loving and giving when I shouldn’t have. And that comes down to, that’s a me problem,” she concluded.
Brianna joined Zach on his national tour in 2023, often documenting their experiences with her 1.2 million Instagram followers and her 2.1 million TikTok followers.
“I gave up myself to do that, like I said, willingly. We talked about it a lot, it was a sacrifice for our future… I was willing to sacrifice for someone that I loved.”
Brianna said she lost herself in the relationship, giving up her life, friends and family to be with Zach. However, when it came time for Brianna to go on her own Plan Bri tour in mid-2024, Zach seemingly began to withdraw from her. She said the two broke up a few times, including once after Brianna appeared at the Golden Globes in a dress Zach “didn’t like,” then again in the middle of her tour.
After the Golden Globes, Brianna says Zach unfollowed her.
“He said he didn’t want to like date someone that presents themselves that way. And he unfollowed me. He unfollowed everyone. And when I flew home, like I flew home after the Golden Globes, [I realized] he ruined my night. Everything good, anything good I did for me, he made sure to ruin it for me. He ruined my birthday.”
But Brianna said she always took him back after these brief splits. Until it came time for her to tour.
“I set off on tour and him and I are fine and we’re talking every day obviously, and I’m thriving. I’m so happy. I’m back in my element. It’s all over social media obviously, like I’m posting about it. I’m so excited. I’m back with my friends.” Brianna said that on the tour, she began remembering her life before Zach, and it made her happy to be focusing on herself.
“I’m on tour and I’m like, holy s***, I kind of forgot who I am and what I built and all of these fans that are here and all these shows. I’m touring the f****** West Coast. I’m flying all over and I’m doing so well. I’m so happy. I’m finally like feeling like myself again. And I just get the, ‘I can’t do this anymore’ [text].”
After the tour, Brianna flew to the mansion Zach had bought for them in Boston, where Brianna is originally from. She thought they would reconcile, but he soon asked her to move out. But that wouldn’t be the end of the couple just yet, as he tried to get her back a few days later. She took him back, she said, a move that she said is embarrassing now. She recognizes that many aspects of the relationship, including the back-and-forth, hot-and-cold nature of it, was toxic.
“Everything I did in the back of my head, I [thought], ‘Is Zach going to be mad?’ Like I have to make sure everything I do isn’t going to cause… Egg shells, like [walking on] egg shells.”
Eventually, the two split again, and after the break-up announcements were posted to each of their social media pages, Brianna was able to realize she would never receive closure (“All I ever did was be a fool and f***** love you,” she said) and that she could never go back.
“I went through literal narcissistic emotional abuse for a year, and he made me believe everything was my fault.”
Brianna Chickenfry, Dave Portnoy And Josh Richards Discuss Breakup, NDA, Diss Track
Dave Portnoy and Josh Richards’ ‘diss track’ angered singer
The second half of the podcast, which Dave Portnoy mentioned would likely be their most-listened-to podcast, featured regular co-hosts Brianna, Dave and Josh Richards. As part of her role at Barstool Sports, she’s heavily involved with her cohosts, and they regularly hung out with Zach together. Post-split, Dave has publicly defended Brianna, even taking on an almost paternal, protective role with her.
According to Dave, he never really liked Zach.
The feeling was apparently mutual, as Zach allegedly offered Bri double what she was making at Barstool so she could quit and be with him full-time.
“I love what I do. I love who I am. Like you’re not gonna take everything away from me.”
After the breakup, as Zach’s management was trying to negotiate with Brianna, she said Dave and Josh often came up during NDA talks, especially after they released a diss track called “Smallest Man,” a play on Taylor Swift’s “Smallest Man In The World” hit, aimed at Zach and set to the melody of Zach’s hit, “28,” which he wrote about Brianna. The song included many references to Zach’s biggest songs.
Lyrics to the diss track included:
“How lucky is Bri to be free of ZB and his STDs.”
“I said trust me, caught your pants on fire / Tinder, Bumble, Raya, knew you was a liar. You’re a d********, you just made a new rival / Pretty soon you going to need a revival.”
“Looking for pink skies, but now you’re seeing stars / There’s something in the orange and it’s you behind these bars, b****.”
The song angered Zach and his team, so much so that it’s been repeatedly removed from the internet due to copyright infringement. It also made for leverage against Brianna, who had not yet signed the NDA, which angered Dave and the Barstool team.
“I feel like I have pretty good life experience through Barstool or whatever, [I’m] older. So I was trying to act as Bri’s friend and [give] legal advice when I don’t have any real legal advice. But like I was knowing what was going on in the negotiations to a degree,” Dave, 47, said.
“They found out about the diss track that Josh and I made… I think anyone who knows me pretty well, like Bri can make her own decisions. [But] I’m not going to have someone tell me, like I have to shut up, like I don’t even know anything,” said Dave.
“I was like, you guys are f***** idiots,” Brianna continued. “I would call Dave and talk about this, like not even about like what really was going on, just be like, this is a decision I need to make. Is it like money or what? What should I do? But Dave didn’t know anything and I tried to explain to them like Dave, it’s Dave Portnoy. Do you guys not [know]? This is his shtick. This is his thing. If you try to attack him, everything is going to get worse and they just tried to pin Dave on me. And I’m like, what the f*** is going on?”
Ultimately, Brianna decided against the NDA, which left her free to spill all the tea on the podcast and in future episodes and social media posts, one can assume. The podcast episode touched on and confirmed other rumors surrounding Zach Bryan, including a reported rift between Zach and Bri’s best friend and co-host, Grace O’Malley, a fight between Zach and singer Noah Kahan, the ownership of Brianna’s Ford Bronco and Zach’s hard-partying ways.
“The last year of my life has been like the hardest year of my life, like dealing with the abuse from this dude… I’m still scared right now because I’m scared of him still. My brain’s rewired, like I’m scared to make him mad,” Brianna said.
“I don’t think you need Raya. I think you need therapy.”
Throughout Brianna’s time in the public eye, she’s earned her fair share of criticism. However, one can’t help but feel sympathy for her as she navigates the end of a toxic, emotionally abusive and very public relationship, something that is relatable to many people, regardless of age, fame or gender.
Comments on the BFFs YouTube page included encouraging words from fans.
I have never been more proud of a stranger on the internet. That’s an incredible amount of money, but you’re worth so much more.
bri explained being in a relationship with a narcissist so well, i feel so heard and seen, im so sorry you went through that.
Passing on 12 mil to tell your story is GANGSTER AF!!!!!
As someone who’s experienced abuse, I had her back in the comments the entire year. I knew some type of abuse was happening. Her responses to things said so much. You could tell she was going through so much. Thank you for sharing.
She said she hopes that by being open about her experience, she can help others who might be in the same situation.
“If you’re not getting the love that you’re giving, you have to walk away. And I genuinely think that this is such a blessing, because who f***** knows how long I would have stayed and how long I would have dealt with this s*** and just been a doormat to someone with this big crazy life that just seemingly cannot take accountability for the way you treated me.”
BFFs drops new episodes every Wednesday on YouTube.
