TikTok star Brianna Chickenfry laughs off critics amid romance with Zach Bryan

‘I’m, like, eating it up,’ podcast host says

Barstool Sports podcast host Brianna Chickenfry is unbothered by critics hating on her new romance with country music star Zach Bryan.

Chickenfry - whose real name is Brianna LaPaglia - told People in a video interview at the Streamy’s Awards on Sunday (27 August) that she has been getting a “kick” out of the internet hate that her “new relationship” has received. 

“It’s fun. I’m, like, eating it up,” LaPaglia laughed and shrugged, before admitting that the attention was “kind of crazy at first.” However, the BFFs podcast co-host realised that she “can’t buy into love or hate on the internet,” saying: “You just kind of gotta be yourself and see where it takes you.”

LaPaglia, 24, explained that she initially wanted to keep her relationship with Bryan, 27, private because they had just begun to date casually. But eagle-eyed fans caught on quickly and the rumour mill went into overdrive. “I wanted to keep it quiet as long as I could, but everyone on the internet is FBI agents,” the Boston native explained. “So they figured everything out, and I was like, ‘I need to get ahead of it, I need to say what’s right, what’s real and what’s true,’ so I did it on my podcast.”

LaPaglia cleared the air on the 27 July episode of her PlanBri Uncut podcast, in which she said that she began dating Bryan after both of them had recently ended their relationships. She told her co-host, Grace O’Malley: “I think I might have some stuff to address. I’ve been hanging out with a guy named Zach.”

When O’Malley asked his last name, LaPaglia confirmed that it was “Bryan” and explained they had started “hanging out” three weeks ago. “It’s fun, it’s casual... just wanted to address it because the whole internet is freaking the f*** out and people are doing s***,” she said.

In May, Bryan and LaPaglia met for the first time at the 2023 ACM Awards in Dallas, Texas. The content creator gushed about their encounter in a video on her YouTube channel, called “Meeting Zach Bryan at the American Country Music Awards”. Later that month, both stars ended up breaking up with their significant others. Bryan tweeted on 31 May that he had split from his ex-girlfriend Deb Peifer, saying that “for transparency and respect” the two had broken up a week and a half prior.

The following month, LaPaglia and her then-boyfriend, Joey, attended Bryan’s concert on 23 June at Forest Hills Stadium in New York City. Although LaPaglia and Bryan didn’t speak to one another that night, the podcast host and her former boyfriend broke up shortly after the concert.

“I was still with my boyfriend at the concert. And then, a few days later, me and Joey break up. And [Bryan] had already broken up with his girlfriend, and then he f***ing slid into my DMs,” she explained. “I made a podcast after we went onstage and was like, ‘Eat the rich besides Zach Bryan,’ and he posted it and then he DM’d me and said, ‘That was so sweet, thank you guys for coming.’ And then we just started chatting.”

It seems as though their summer romance may last well into fall, as LaPaglia made sure to shoutout Bryan’s recently released self-titled album in her interview with People.

"I’ve been listening to it for a little bit. It’s really good," she told the outlet. "All of the songs are like Top 20 right now, so... go stream it!"