Brianna Chickenfry Alleges Narcissistic Emotional Abuse by Zach Bryan — Details

Content warning: This article mentions emotional abuse.

Barstool Sports podcaster Brianna “Chickenfry” LaPaglia recently opened up about her split from country singer-songwriter Zach Bryan, sharing that she felt "blindsided" when he announced the breakup publicly without consulting her first. On Oct. 22, 2024, a day after they officially broke up, Zach took to his Instagram story to announce the split. Since then, shocking allegations about their relationship have emerged, including claims of emotional abuse.

It seems Brianna felt pressured to respond sooner than she’d planned after Zach's surprise announcement. She later revealed on YouTube that Zach’s team had approached her with a million-dollar offer to keep quiet about their relationship details. “I did not accept any money, and I will not accept any money,” she stated firmly.

Then, in a Nov. 7 episode of the BFFs podcast, Brianna mentioned the emotional abuse she allegedly endured during their time together. Here’s what Brianna had to say.

On the Nov. 7 episode, Brianna began by explaining that the past year was "the hardest year of my life dealing with the abuse from this dude," referring to Zach. She added that she had avoided speaking out earlier because "I was scared. I'm still scared right now," she continued, "because I'm scared of him. My brain's rewired, and I'm scared to make him mad."

Brianna told her fellow BFFs cohosts that she "went through literal narcissistic emotional abuse for a year," saying that Zach made her "feel like everything was [her] fault." She further explained how he allegedly "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."

But Brianna says the alleged emotional abuse didn’t end there: "He broke me down and then made me feel like he was all I had left. And he just kept repeatedly beating me down, beating me down."

While speaking with her fellow cohosts, Dave Portnoy and Josh Richards, Brianna further divulged that Zach would constantly provide excuses to justify the alleged emotional abuse he inflicted on her. "There was always another excuse as to why he was treating me so poorly and why I'm crying myself to sleep every night," she shared.

Brianna explained the painful cycle, saying, "Why he's screaming at me, and then you wake up — it's the apology, it's the 'I'm going to be better, I need you in my life.' But if you've been through this … I don't expect people to understand emotional abuse if you haven't been through it. I hope you never have to go through it, but if you've been there, you know what I'm talking about."

Brianna has acknowledged that she didn’t accept the "settlement" Zach and his team are pushing her to take and asserts that she has every right to discuss the experiences she went through.