Brianna LaPaglia Is Not Asking for Anyone’s Permission

The podcast host is SI Swimsuit’s January 2025 digital cover model.

Brianna LaPaglia is blasting Taylor Swift when I call her on a Tuesday afternoon just before the holidays.

In that way, she is like many, many other women in their mid-20s. But in one particular way, LaPaglia is unique: As a newly-minted pop culture lightning rod in the wake of her own headline-making, gossip-generating breakup, she can relate to Swift’s lyrics on a level very few ever will.

Brianna LaPaglia was photographed by Katherine Goguen at The Austin Estate. Swimsuit by Christopher Esber. / Katherine Goguen/Sports Illustrated

“Now I’m not just listening to pop music, I’m listening to the diary of someone who experienced something completely the same as me, and they're putting it in words that I could have never done myself. Her words have been, in a weird way, an outlet of getting my own words out in my mind,” LaPaglia says. “I can listen to it and be like, ‘Wow, how the hell does she have a song for everything?’ And I mean, everything. For what I’m going through now, there’s a song, there’s an era, there’s something for everything in Taylor Swift’s music.

“It’s unfortunate that it took this circumstance to get to be a Swiftie, but at the end of the day, I’m very grateful that I have found Taylor.” 

Brianna LaPaglia was photographed by Katherine Goguen at The Austin Estate. Swimsuit by Isa Boulder. / Katherine Goguen/Sports Illustrated

This circumstance, if you missed the media firestorm surrounding the podcast host and influencer, is as follows: LaPaglia—who is widely known on the internet as “Brianna Chickenfry,” a name she adopted after a 2016 Vine she posted comparing her leg to a chicken fry went viral— began dating country music star Zach Bryan in the summer of 2023. The Boston native had garnered her own fame through her work with Barstool Sports, building a base of fans who followed her every hair color change and hangover tip on social media, but the relationship launched her into an even bigger spotlight.

Then, in late October 2024, Bryan posted to his Instagram stories that the pair had broken up after more than a year of dating. Two weeks later, LaPaglia claimed on her podcast BFFs that Bryan had offered her $12 million and an apartment in New York in exchange for her silence regarding anything that happened during their time together. She explained that she refused to accept it, and instead began to speak up about the relationship, which she says was controlling and emotionally abusive. 

For his part, Bryan has remained mostly silent. Bryan did not respond to a request for comment.

Quickly—more quickly than she could even process—LaPaglia became a kind of spokeswoman for emotionally abusive relationships. She had dozens, and then hundreds of people, ranging from young girls to married women in their 50s, in her DMs looking for advice on leaving relationships or sharing stories about their own trauma. It was a lot for her to handle. “I think people do tend to forget I’m just 25,” she says. “It’s really overwhelming to feel the pressure of being a role model on top of everything in my life being very public, because at the end of the day, I’m still just a girl trying to figure her life out.”

But LaPaglia took their trust to heart. At first, she attempted to respond to every single DM she received, trying to help as many people as possible and not wanting anyone to feel ignored or left out at such a difficult time in their lives. Then, when that became impossible, she started making videos publicly, hoping to find a broader reach for her messaging. What she didn’t expect was what people gave back to her in return.

Brianna LaPaglia was photographed by Katherine Goguen at The Austin Estate. Swimsuit by Tropic of C. Top by Andres Otalora. / Katherine Goguen/Sports Illustrated

Brianna LaPaglia was photographed by Katherine Goguen at The Austin Estate. Left: Swimsuit by SAME Los Angeles. Right: Swimsuit by Isa Boulder. / Katherine Goguen/Sports Illustrated

“During the hardest time of my life, it’s probably been one of the most rewarding things that has ever happened to me, to be able to help people in a way that I feel is a lot more meaningful than what my old content was,” she says. “I know posting silly stuff and having fun videos for people to watch is also helpful, and it helps people get out of the reality, but to actually change lives with coming forward and being able to give people a shoulder to lean on, or a person to cry to, it’s just out of this world.”

Of course, another thing well-documented in Taylor Swift’s oeuvre is the way public opinion can swing against you as a woman in the limelight, and LaPaglia is experiencing that as well. As her every move is dissected, she’s received vitriol from people who don’t believe her story and backlash from strangers online who believe she’s milking her situation for attention. In December, LaPaglia announced on Instagram that she was working on bringing back her popular podcast PlanBri Uncut. Her prior cohost, close friend Grace O’Malley, followed up with her own post sharing that it was her “first time hearing” about a new iteration of the podcast, adding to the fire. LaPaglia is doing her best to ignore the increased scrutiny.

Brianna LaPaglia was photographed by Katherine Goguen at The Austin Estate. Swimsuit by SAME Los Angeles. / Katherine Goguen/Sports Illustrated

“I’m really upset that it’s taking away from the importance of what I was doing, trying to help people heal, and trying to help people have someone in their corner while they’re going through such negative times.”

Maybe that’s why, while most influencers are panicking over the impending TikTok ban, set to take effect in the U.S. on Jan. 19, LaPaglia is ready to celebrate. “How I’m feeling right now is I’m like, Pop a bottle of champagne! Let's get rid of this horrible, hateful, app,” she says with a big laugh.

“I just wish I could hang out with each of my haters one-on-one, to be honest,” LaPaglia admits. “I’d say, ‘I wish you could just see me for who I actually am, not this like reflection of the s— cycle on TikTok, where it’s just being fed into an algorithm—it wouldn’t even be possible for you to see a positive video of me at this point, because once you’re on the negative side, it’s all that’s fed to you.’”

That side of her job, which seems so glamorous from the outside, is the least interesting thing to her. LaPaglia doesn’t care about pursuing the influencer lifestyle. “I have hung out with the A-list celebrities,” she says. “My life for a year was hanging out with all these famous people and doing all these extravagant things, and, if anything, their lives seem a lot s—ier than my family’s back home, where they are just regular people who are happy and alive.”

Brianna LaPaglia was photographed by Katherine Goguen at The Austin Estate. Swimsuit by Isa Boulder. / Katherine Goguen/Sports Illustrated

Long-format content trumps the short form as far as LaPaglia is concerned. Going into the new year, she has big plans for her podcasts, including a slight format change for BFFs, cutting the headlines portion of the show. Her own personal experience at the center of a gossip firestorm “definitely made me not want to speculate or assume things about anything I see online for sure,” she explains.

There’s also the possibility of a book. At the moment, nonfiction seems like the most obvious option, given LaPaglia’s outspokenness and her willingness to share her own stories. In the long term, though, she hopes to publish some fiction, too. As it turns out, she’s got plenty of options to choose from. “I have so many piles of books that I’ve been writing since college, silly fiction books and silly magical worlds that I’ll create, because I love a bit of an escape,” she says. And she’s reading plenty for inspiration, from Dolly Alderton’s Everything I Know About Love to Matt Haig’s The Midnight Library to “the faerie porn s—,” as she dubs it while laughing.

Her biggest priority at the moment, though, is reconnecting with herself. LaPaglia says that while she was in the relationship with Bryan, she felt like she had to bury her own personality, which she’s uncovering piece by piece. It’s hard to imagine her tiptoeing through any space, but that’s exactly what she taught herself to do. 

Brianna LaPaglia was photographed by Katherine Goguen at The Austin Estate. Clockwise from top left: Swimsuit by Isa Boulder. Swimsuit by Christopher Esber. Swimsuit by Christopher Esber. Swimsuit by Christopher Esber. / Katherine Goguen/Sports Illustrated

“When I walk into a room, I want to talk to everyone. When the relationship first started, that became a problem for him; I was talking too much or I was being too much, and maybe the spotlight was not on him enough,” LaPaglia explains. “That’s how he made me feel: Oh, I need to dim myself down.”

Now that she is rediscovering her self confidence, she can go back to something she loves doing: talking to complete strangers. “I’m walking down the street, I’m at the crosswalk—I’m sparking up a conversation,” she says. “I’m in the bodega, talking to the bodega guy for 20 minutes too long now. I’m finally talking to my hairdresser again, where I used to just sit in the chair. I’m finding that little spark of life back in myself now that one person that felt like a doom cloud over me at all times is gone.”

LaPaglia refers to this year as “Chapter 25.” For now it’s a blank slate, and she hopes whatever she chooses will inspire people who follow her story to feel emboldened. 

Brianna LaPaglia was photographed by Katherine Goguen at The Austin Estate. Swimsuit by Tropic of C. Top by Andres Otalora. / Katherine Goguen/Sports Illustrated

“I know a day will come where I will want to slip into regular life and stop sharing every little detail about myself,” LaPaglia says. “I hope when I end up offline that I can leave a legacy that shows you can always stay true to who you are and be successful and you don’t have to change yourself for anyone. If you stay true to who you are and your morals and your beliefs, you’ll always come out on top.”

Before that happens, though, she’s kicking 2025 off with a bang. This cover marks a full-circle moment for LaPaglia, who was set to host the red carpet for the 60th anniversary celebration of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue last May. But at the last minute, she says, Bryan talked her out of doing it, telling her that it was “trashy” and off-brand for her. She was pleasantly surprised to find that the door to SI Swimsuit didn’t permanently shut to her.

There were still big nerves involved in making the decision to do a Swimsuit photo shoot. The stress of the relationship led to unintended weight loss that she’s still working on gaining back, and in some ways, those bodily changes remind her of the relationship she was in. It may seem like a small step, but posing for SI Swimsuit provided her with a big way of taking that control back for herself.

Brianna LaPaglia was photographed by Katherine Gougen at The Austin Estate. Swimsuit by Sommer Swim. / Katherine Gougen/Sports Illustrated

“It's a lot more than me looking quote-unquote hot in a swimsuit—it’s me reclaiming who I am as a woman, reclaiming my body and my decisions and my choices,” LaPaglia says. “This cover is me being me again and taking control of my life. This is my body; my body isn’t that experience, and even though I’m not 100% in it right now, this is me. This doesn’t have anything to do with anybody else.”

And she also sees it as a pretty Swiftian way of getting back at an ex. (Alexa, play “Karma.”)

“It is just, on a petty level, my favorite f--- you,” she adds with a laugh. “This is me, and I wanted to do this, and now I’m on the digital cover.”

https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/v1736891678/images/voltaxMediaLibrary/mmsport/si_swimsuit/01jhkcz6qagw1dethpwj.jpg. Brianna LaPaglia Gallery. Brianna LaPaglia . https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/v1736890702/images/voltaxMediaLibrary/mmsport/si_swimsuit/01jhkc1n3zs5pfa9wva7.jpg. Brianna LaPaglia Model Page. https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/v1736532249/images/voltaxMediaLibrary/mmsport/si_swimsuit/01jh8p6jrg0s6sb7s1y2.jpg. Deep Dive with Brianna LaPaglia