Brianna LaPaglia Accuses Ex-Boyfriend Zach Bryan of Abuse

Brianna “Chickenfry” LaPaglia has accused her ex-boyfriend Zach Bryan of emotional abuse while they were together.

LaPaglia, 25, made the allegations on the BFFs Podcast she cohosts with Dave Portnoy and Josh Richards on Thursday, Nov. 7, opening up about her relationship with Bryan, 29, for the first time since the country star announced their breakup on Oct. 22. She did not detail the exact nature of the alleged abuse.

Reps for LaPaglia and Bryan did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.

“The last year of my life has been the hardest year of my life dealing with the abuse from this dude,” LaPaglia said, referring to Bryan.

“I’m still scared right now because I’m scared of him,” she continued. “My brain’s rewired and I’m scared to make him mad and last week, I didn’t want to talk about it ’cause I was scared.”

LaPaglia also claimed that the women who were previously in relationships with Bryan were made to sign non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) to keep them from publicly discussing their own experiences with him.

“You made the women before me believe that they had no other choice but to take money from you,” LaPaglia alleged. “[They] signed their experiences and what they went through away [so] you get to go skip off and sing you little f— songs on stage like you’re a good dude.”

LaPaglia said she decided to open up about her alleged experiences “for anyone else that’s been emotionally abused and for people right now being emotionally abused.”

“It’s for anyone that don’t have a support system that I luckily had going through this,” she continued. “This isn’t like a drama thing for me, this isn’t me not signing the NDA or not taking the money because I wanna get on here and expose who he is and all that s—. I’m not signing away my experiences and what I went through to protect someone that hurt me and I’m a lot stronger than a weak man, f– you and f— your money.”

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Bryan and LaPaglia met at the Academy of Country Music Awards in May 2023 and officially started dating in July 2023. Bryan confirmed their split on Instagram on Oct. 22 and asked for everyone to respect his and LaPaglia’s privacy.

“Brianna and me have broken up with [each other] and I respect and love her with every ounce of my heart,” Bryan 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. I thought it would be beneficial for both of us to go our different ways.”

LaPaglia felt “blindsided” by the news, she wrote in an Instagram Stories post, adding that she planned to “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,” LaPaglia continued. “Remember you are so loved and everything’s always gonna be okay.”