The fallout from Brianna “Chickenfry” LaPaglia and Zach Bryan’s breakup continues to play out. The pair split in October 2024 after about a year together, but the story didn’t end there. In the months that followed, Brianna revealed in a YouTube video that she was blindsided by the breakup and later alleged emotional abuse, cheating rumors, and a declined multimillion-dollar NDA offer — claims that kept their relationship in the spotlight well into 2025.
Now, as the new year begins, the situation has shifted again. Zach has moved on and quietly married Samantha Leonard, while Brianna has continued speaking openly about how the breakup affected her mental health and identity.
So what really happened between Brianna and Zach— and how did their relationship ultimately unravel? Hollywood Life is breaking down the situation, below.
Why Did Brianna Chickenfry & Zach Bryan Break Up?
In an Instagram Stories statement, the “Pink Skies” artist began by “addressing something,” referring to the breakup rumors that had already begun swirling about him and Brianna.
“Brianna and me have broken up with [each other] and I respect and love her with every ounce of my heart,” Zach wrote. “She has loved me unconditionally for a very long time and for that, I’ll always thank her. I have had an incredibly hard year personally and struggled through some pretty severe things.”
Zach added, “I thought it would be beneficial for both of us to go our different ways.I am not perfect and never will be. Please respect Brianna’s privacy and space in this and if you have it in your heart, mine too.”
Toward the end of his post, the singer-songwriter concluded, “With everything I am and to anyone I let down, I am sorry. I try my best in everything. I failed people that love me and mostly myself.”
It’s unclear what Zach meant by his note on letting people down. However, hours later, Brianna broke her silence on their split in an emotional video.
“I’ve been crying for, like, five days straight,” she said after confessing she was “completely shocked” by Zach’s public statement. “He didn’t text me, he didn’t call me. … I’m at the point where it’s like, how can you give someone everything and like, love them so unconditionally, like through stuff that you shouldn’t, because you just love ’em and you want them?”
A couple of weeks later, Brianna shared more insight into the relationship during a podcast episode in November 2024. She noted that the singer disliked the dress she wore to the 2024 Golden Globes and claimed that he had been controlling. She also alleged that his team offered her a $12 million deal to sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA). Additionally, Brianna’s “BFFs” podcast co-hosts, Dave Portnoy and Josh Richards, came to her defense by releasing a diss track aimed at Zach.
In an interview with Elite Dailyreleased on March 5, 2025, Brianna opened up about her relationship with Zach, where she discussed speaking out about their breakup, noting, “I always trusted my intuition and my gut, and I did it for me… It was a selfish moment where I was like, ‘I’m doing this for me, and I’m taking me back.’”
Being in the public eye and sharing details about her split led to increased online attention. She reflected on this, saying, “I reacted a lot to the noise when I went through a lot of it because I was so under the microscope and I was in defense mode… It’s taught me to sometimes shut up and go deal with it behind a closed door.”
Regarding the NDA, she ultimately decided to turn it down, explaining, “I don’t want, in two years, to buy a f*cking house and think, ‘Oh, this is the money from the dude that literally f*cking destroyed me and broke me for a year.’”
When Did Brianna Chickenfry & Zach Bryan Start Dating?
The Internet personality and the “Revival” singer started dating in July 2023. The then-couple made their first red carpet appearance in February 2024 at the Grammy Awards.
Zach Bryan Was Married Before He Met Brianna
Before he met Brianna, Zach was married to his ex-wife, Rose Madden, from July 2020 to July 2021. As for Brianna, the podcaster has kept her past dating history away from the public eye.
