Country sensation Zach Bryan skipped the 58th annual Country Music Awards on Wednesday night following his messy split from Brianna ‘Chickenfry’ LaPaglia.
Despite being nominated for Musical Event of the Year category for his and Kacey Musgraves’ I Remember Everything duet, the Something in the Orange hitmaker, 28, ditched the red carpet to stay home with his beloved Labrador, Jack Daniels.
Instead of mingling with his fellow nominees, like Lainey Wilson, Chris Stapleton and Megan Moroney, on country music’s biggest night, Bryan shared photos of himself enjoying a ‘rainy day.’
As his industry peers got glammed up, the Grammy winner took to Instagram to post footage of himself playing guitar at home as well as snaps of a rocky beach at sunset.
Although he did not offer any explanation for his absence at the CMA Awards, Bryan is fresh off his breakup with LaPaglia, who claims to have been ‘blindsided’ by the end of their year-long romance.
The former dated for a year before he announced they split on his Instagram Stories – days after fans speculated they had gone their separate ways after a Reddit user claimed to have seen him on the celebrity dating app Raya.
Country singer Zach Bryan skipped the Country Music Awards on Wednesday night following his messy split from Brianna Chickenfry LaPaglia
On Sunday, Brianna, who is now dating Conor Wilson, claimed that Zach launched objects at her face after she got upset that he posted an image of a pet they once shared to social media.
‘If this man posts this f***ing cat one more time, then I’m gonna post videos of you whipping s*** at my face,’ she said. ‘So can you stop f***ing posting my cat and rubbing it in my face.’
In response to Barstool Sports head Dave Portnoy’s urging for her to ‘Post it!!!!!’ Chickenfry, 25, said she would ‘just send to’ him directly.
Chickenfry, whose real name is Brianna LaPaglia, later deleted the clip; as of Sunday evening, there were no recent images involving a cat posted on Bryan’s Instagram page.
Chickenfry on November 11 said in a TikTok post that Bryan had taken her cat in the wake of their breakup: ‘I miss Stump so much – I wanna f***ing kidnap him.
‘But when he left and didn’t tell me anything, he took Stump, like out of spite. He didn’t even like cats.’
Chickenfry previously claimed that Bryan had subjected her to ‘narcissistic, emotional abuse’ during their relationship, which began in July of 2023 and ended last month, as she moved out of his Massachusetts mansion.
She also claims she refused to sign an NDA in the wake of their ugly break-up.
Chickenfry turned down a life-changing $12m NDA settlement offer from Bryan after the pair’s very public split last month.
Despite being nominated for Musical Event of the Year category for his and Kacey Musgraves’ I Remember Everything duet, the Something in the Orange hitmaker, 28, ditched the red carpet to stay home with his beloved Labrador, Jack Daniels
In a post this past Friday, Chickenfry said Bryan had picked out an engagement ring for her while he was ‘was cheating the whole time.’
Zach first announced on his Instagram Stories on October 22 they had parted ways after more than one year together with a lengthy statement.
The announcement came one day after fans speculated the duo had gone their separate ways after a Reddit user claimed to have seen Zach on the celebrity dating app Raya with photos of his alleged profile, in addition to a mysterious message shared by Chickenfry.
The country singer, who began dating Brianna in July 2023, posted to his account on Tuesday: ‘Addressing something: Brianna and me have broken up with each other (sic) 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.’
Instead of mingling with his fellow nominees, like Lainey Wilson, Chris Stapleton and Megan Moroney, on country music’s biggest night, Bryan shared photos of himself enjoying a ‘rainy day’
As his industry peers got glammed up, the Grammy winner took to Instagram to post footage of himself playing guitar at home as well as snaps of a rocky beach at sunset
‘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,’ he continued in his statement.
‘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.’
Around 30 minutes after Zach posted his message, the Barstool Sports star posted her statement.
While she did not say anything about the split, she appeared to be alluding to her break-up with Zach as she said she was feeling ‘really blindsided’ at the moment.
Confirmation of the split came amid fan speculation the couple had gone their separate ways.
Although he did not offer any explanation for his absence at the CMA Awards, Bryan is fresh off his breakup with LaPaglia, who claims to have been ‘blindsided’ by the end of their year-long romance
The former dated for a year before he announced they split on his Instagram Stories – days after fans speculated they had gone their separate ways after a Reddit user claimed to have seen him on the celebrity dating app Raya
The break-up speculation arose after a Reddit user shared snaps of Zach’s alleged Raya profile.
Additionally, Brianna posted a mysterious, hand-written message that only added to the speculation.
‘And eventually you’ll find that life goes on, even if you don’t want it to,’ the message read. ‘The days will pass and the world will move while you ask it to stop.
‘You’ll believe life is cruel for continuing on while your feet are stuck.
Zach first announced on his Instagram Stories on October 22 they had parted ways after more than one year together with a lengthy statement
The announcement came one day after fans speculated the duo had gone their separate ways after a Reddit user claimed to have seen Zach on the celebrity dating app Raya with photos of his alleged profile, in addition to a mysterious message shared by Chickenfry
‘You’ll find people and moments to blame for your concrete feet.
Brianna confirmed they were dating in July 2023 on her podcast, PlanBri Uncut.
While talking to her co-host, Grace, the media personality stated, ‘I think I might have some stuff to address. I’ve been hanging out with a guy named Zach.’
She then clarified that he was Zach and that the two had been seeing each other for ‘three weeks.’
She added: ‘It’s fun, it’s casual, and yeah, I just wanted to address it because the whole internet is freaking the f**k out and people are doing s**t,’ Brianna expressed during the episode titled, The Cat’s Out Of The Bag.
After they confirmed their relationship, the then-couple made their red carpet debut at the Grammy Awards in February.
