Brianna Chickenfry Says Zach Bryan Is “Crashing Out” Because She’s Finally Happy: “He Re-Followed My Aunt On Instagram”

The full rundown.

This week has filled with more drama between Zach Bryan and Brianna Chickenfry (whose real name is Brianna LaPaglia), which found the two of them going back and forth over the details of their breakup.

Brianna has spoken a lot about their split, which is to be expected since she allegedly turned down a massive $12 million NDA. If you aren’t gonna be taking the money, you better be generating $12 million worth on content talking about it. Personally, taking the check seems easier…

But on the other hand, Zach really hasn’t said anything at all, opting to just do what he does best… keep releasing music. So that’s why it was pretty surprising when he posted (and of course quickly deleted) a text message, reportedly from Brianna, that appears to have been after their relationship ended.

It spiraled from there, but the text from Brianna says a number of things including “I still have love for you” and that things would have ended differently if it were up to her. She also says that the timing of their relationship was wrong and that he wasn’t ready, but that she’ll always be there for him.

There’s no date on the message, but the next message (which is cut off) comes on October 29th, so we can place it a little over a week before her tell-all BFFs podcast, and shortly after the breakup. Of course, it’s normal for people to keep in contact shortly after a breakup, and even send messages of support for each other. Nevertheless, some argue that you don’t send that kind of post-breakup text message to someone who consistently cheated on and abused you… allegedly. But relationships are nuanced… there’s no black and white.

So when Zach leaked that, Brianna had no choice but to respond. In a series of posts to her Instagram, Brianna shared her thoughts on Zach sharing her text message, including one accusing him of being “blackout at 7am again” and claiming that she was living rent free in his head. In another post, she shared what she claims is a text from Zach’s manager, Danny Kang, outlining the terms of the proposed NDA that was offered to her.

The message proposes two options for Brianna to choose from: Either a flat $10 million payment, or $3 million plus she would get to keep the house in Duxbury, Massachusetts, which Zach bought in April 2024 for a reported $7.5 million. Additionally, the terms of the NDA would include Brianna not speaking about Zach or any “non public cheating,” and guarantee that the recording her former friend and podcast co-host Grace O’Malley has of Zach (presumably the fire pit video) “never gets talked about.”

Zach’s team acknowledges that Brianna has no control over what Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy and BFFs co-host Josh Richards say about Zach or the breakup, but she was not to “feed into any of it” and would “deflect and defend Zach in moments that people try to pry at the relationship.”

She ended with several slides dedicated to defending herself, claiming that she has “not told ONE lie ever” and calling his fans and defenders “brain dead.” Brianna also says she wants nothing to do with Zach and doesn’t know why he’s “crashing out” over her, but that she refuses to take the bait and “expose” him any further.

Brianna took several minutes on her BFF’s podcast this week with co-host Josh Richards to talk in-depth about the text drama and everything else surrounding that. Brianna explained that she thinks her ex was “crashing out” because she’s finally happy, and for so long, she publicly struggled with their breakup.

She called it a “tactic” to bring her back down:

“I think he crashed out because I’m finally happy, and like, he re-followed my aunt on Instagram when we were all on family vacation. Like, I think he just crashed out that I’m actually doing well, because I wasn’t for a while and he probably fed off of that. And like now I’m openly, I don’t know, just happy.

And I know that it’s a tactic of just like trying to bring me back down to it. But me in responding to it, being like I’ll drop the fire pit video, or I’ll do this, I’ll do that, like, that was stupid. I shouldn’t have said that cause then it’s like this is tea. This is drama and it’s not.”

@bffspodNew episode out now♬ original sound – BFFs Pod

When Richards asked if she would continue to address Zach should he make any other comments about their breakup, Brianna said she doesn’t want to and she wished didn’t act “out of anger” and feed into what he was doing. She also explained that she feels like Zach saying she isn’t “sweet,” which was the TikTok comment that really started all of this, was because he didn’t like that she stood up to him and others who maybe couldn’t speak out the way she has:

“Here’s where I’m at. So like, obviously I fell into the trap of like last week where he’s commenting on videos about me, and I was so upset about that. Him saying I’m not sweet, when of course you don’t think I’m sweet because I didn’t fit the narrative of me being complicit and you abusing women.

Of course you’re not gonna think I’m sweet, because I stood up for myself, I stood up for women and I stood up for everything you did to people before. So like, that really pissed me off. That was like another thing that I would’ve been upset about. He used to say I wasn’t sweet when I stood up for myself, or I’m not being nice enough, because a sweet woman to him as a quiet one that just is complicit.

So that upset me, and I responded to it, which I know I acted out of anger and didn’t think about it. I responded to it, which I wish I didn’t, cause I don’t wanna feed into it anymore. But he antagonized me and I was, I was just… I should’ve never responded to it.”

Here’s the clip:

@bffspodBrianna explains why she responded to ex’s online comments♬ original sound – BFFs Pod

Of course, Brianna’s own co-worker, Kirk Minihane, called her a “repugnant human being” while adding that everyone at Barstool hates her:

“She can hate me all she wants. That’s fine. I think she’s a repugnant human being. The world is worse off because she’s in it. And everybody at the company hates her. Everybody at the company hates her. But only one person has the balls to say it. What else is new?”

All of that to say, there’s two sides to every story…

Brianna also said she isn’t going to drop the fire pit video because she thinks Zach and his team would sue her former friend Grace, who took the video, and she obviously doesn’t want that.

While Brianna says she’s done talking about it, this has been going on for months now, and honestly, I don’t think either one of them is done with what they want to say, unfortunately. Even if it gets quiet for a few months now, I just don’t see either one of them biting their tongue should something like this come up again.

The full podcast is available to watch below.

The post Brianna Chickenfry Says Zach Bryan Is “Crashing Out” Because She’s Finally Happy: “He Re-Followed My Aunt On Instagram” first appeared on Whiskey Riff.