Brianna “Chickenfry” LaPaglia is putting her mental health first.
The “BFFs” podcast cohost announced on Wednesday, October 30, that she is taking a break from the popular Barstool Sports podcast she hosts with Dave Portnoy and Josh Richards following her split from country singer Zach Bryan.
“Hey guys! We tried to record this week but I am having a very hard time figuring out how I want to handle this publicly due to all the backlash,” LaPaglia, 25, shared in a message posted via the podcast’s TikTok account.
The message continued, “I am going to put my mental health first this week. Josh and Dave want to make sure I do what’s best for me. I need to prioritize the right things this week. I hope you can all understand.”
Bryan, 28, announced his split from LaPaglia after one year of dating on October 22, though LaPaglia admitted she felt blindsided by the breakup.
“Addressing something: Brianna and me have broken up with eachother [SIC] and I respect and love her with every ounce of my heart,” the country singer shared in an Instagram Story statement. “She has loved me unconditionally for a very long time and for that I’ll always thank her.”
He continued: “I’ve had an incredibly hard year personally and struggled through some pretty severe things. I thought it would be beneficial for both of us to go out different ways. I am not perfect and never will be.”
LaPaglia responded via her Instagram Story by revealing she didn’t see Bryan’s public post coming.
“Hey guys I’m feeling really blindsided right now. Gonna hop off social media for a while and attempt to heal privately, when I’m ready I’ll be back and ready to talk,” she wrote.“I love you guys so much thank you for all of your kind words. Remember you are so loved and everything’s always gonna be OK.”
LaPaglia shared her devastation by echoing the sentiment in a YouTube video posted soon after.
“How can you, like, give every ounce of yourself to someone and then, like, be discarded of in a few days,” LaPaglia said. “It’s really, really heartbreaking and I don’t want to talk about details right now.”
LaPaglia’s “BFFs” cohost Portnoy slammed Bryan during an appearance on “The Unnamed Show” podcast on Thursday, October 24, branding the singer an “insecure baby.”
Portnoy also said it was “crazy” that Bryan had allegedly signed up to the dating app Raya amid the split.
“That’s dirty business,” Portnoy said, adding: “He was on a dating app before the body was cold!”