Zach Bryan and Brianna LaPaglia (AKA Brianna Chickenfry) have officially broken up, and it is MESSY. Before I get into all of it, I want to preface that I am going to choose what I say about this situation VERY DELICATELY. Especially in the wake of singer Liam Payne’s tragic passing, it is important to remember that celebrities are people too, and publicly trashing them can cause a lot of emotional damage. Liam faced A LOT of online bullying, and I would hate for Zach to have to experience the same thing. Obviously I know that Zach Bryan will never see this in his life, but this blog is going to be accessible to anyone on the internet, so I want to choose my words carefully. Although celebrities can make really poor decisions, I think that especially in the age of social media it’s important to give them as much grace as we can (except if it’s Kanye West or Kim Kardashian I will publicly drag them till the day I die). With that being said, I am going to talk about what I know about the story in a very tasteful way, while still expressing my true opinion.
Last week, I started to hear about Zach and Brianna’s breakup rumors on Twitter, and a few hours later they both confirmed it via their Instagram stories. Zach said on his story “Addressing something: Brianna and I have broken up with each other and I respect and love her with every ounce of my heart. 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, 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. 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.” I think that Zach’s message is VERY TELLING. Although nothing has been 100% proven, the streets are saying that he cheated on her. We don’t know the whole story, but based on Brianna’s reaction and the internet rumor mill, I do believe that he cheated on her. He was spotted on Raya (a celebrity dating app), but we don’t know the exact timeline of when he joined the app. It could have been WHILE they were dating, or he could have joined the second they broke up. One of the biggest pieces of “evidence” is a video of him IN A UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA STUDENT’S BED. Yes, you read that correctly. A Snapchat video of Zach sleeping in a girl’s bed at UGA has been circulating the internet. People are saying that this was filmed the weekend before they broke up, but again nothing has been confirmed. If you want to see the video go to Twitter and look up “Zach Bryan UGA bed” and scroll down a bit until you see it. To reiterate, we still do not really know the timeline, so it’s hard to jump to conclusions about it. Either way, being in bed with a college student right now is just not the best look for Zach. There is also a rumor that the girl he was in bed with had to sign an NDA. This whole situation is crazy and really messy. I think that even Zach knows that he is in the wrong. He messed up and is trying to send out an apology not only to Brianna, but to his fans.
Shortly after Zach posted his message on his Instagram story, Brianna responded on her story by saying, “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. I love you guys so much thank you for all of your kind words. Remember you are so loved and everythings gonna be okay.” From what I have gathered, when she mentioned being blindsided she was referring to him making the breakup public, not the actual breakup itself. Although I’m sure the breakup was a total shock to her, she specifically meant him posting about it on his Instagram. She said in a later video that he made the news public without informing her first, so she had no idea that intimate details about her personal life were about to be put on blast. I think he should have at least done her the courtesy of letting her know that he was going to tell the world about their breakup so she could have prepared herself. A few days after the news of the breakup went public, Brianna took to her story again, and she was SHADY. Here are some of the screenshots:
Clearly, she is not taking the high road, and I don’t blame her. I appreciate that while she is giving subtle digs at Zach, she is not blatantly attacking him. I like that she is not calling on her fans to attack him either. These Instagram stories also lead me to believe that he did cheat on her because if it was an amicable split, I doubt she would be shading him like this. She also released some new hats which read, “you’re better off” and I COULDN’T AGREE MORE. She is wayyyyyyyyyyy better off without him, and I’m glad she is realizing that. One of the MANY reasons as to why she is better off without him is because we have seen the same situation play out between them time and time again. Zach would do/say something stupid, then go completely off the grid and let Brianna defend him. It was the same thing every time. He would put out some dumb tweet, he would get backlash for it, he would deactivate his account, and Brianna would go defend him. SHE IS BETTER THAN THAT. I am SO glad she won’t have to clean up his messes anymore. I understand that everyone makes mistakes, and says things that they regret, but I just never found it fair that Brianna would take the brunt of defending him. Brianna is talented and funny, and I know she will be FINE. I think she is going to flourish now that she broke up with him. Her life seemed to go a little haywire once she started dating him, and now I think she’ll be able to pick up where she left off. This breakup might be the best thing that’s ever happened to her.
Zach has a history of being a serial cheater. The rumor is that he cheated on his old partner and dumped her while she was deployed in the military. Another one of his most recent “scandals” is that he randomly posted a tweet that said, “eagles> chiefs, Kanye > Taylor.” Anyone with a brain knows that this is a dumb thing to say, especially as someone in the public eye. It’s obvious by now that Zach has made some very poor choices. However, I just feel like Zach has it in him to be a good guy. For example, someone like Kanye West could NEVER be a nice guy because he does not have that inside of him. I think Zach acts like a jerk sometimes but he has the potential to not be one. If he could just get out of his own way, I KNOW that he could be a good guy. This is why I’m always SO disappointed when he acts like an idiot because I really don’t think he’s the prick that he sometimes presents as. I think one of the reasons he can’t seem to reach this potential is because he has some of his own personal issues that he struggles with. I am very sympathetic to this; I just wish he could find a way to reach the goodness that I know he has inside of him. I saw him in concert at Gillette Stadium and he seemed so genuine and down to earth. He has everything he needs to be a good person, I JUST NEED HIM TO STOP MAKING STUPID DECISIONS FOR THE LOVE OF GOD. I sincerely hope that before he breaks another girl’s heart, he focuses on himself, and dealing with his personal issues. If he does this, I think the good guy that’s buried DEEP DEEP DEEP down inside of him will begin to shine.
I know that all breakups suck but I am honestly so happy for Bri. I think this is a HUGE blessing in disguise for her. Even though this is yet ANOTHER time that Zach has disappointed me, I still have not lost hope with him. I think he can turn himself around, and I really hope he does because he has so much potential.