Brianna LaPaglia Breaks Down Zach Bryan Relationship, From Red Flags to Manipulation

The 25-year-old internet personality sits down with Alix Earle to tell all about her past relationship.

Brianna LaPaglia attends the 81st Annual Golden Globe Award / Kevin Winter/GA/The Hollywood Reporter/Getty Images

Social media influencer Brianna LaPaglia has been making headlines this fall after coming out to accuse her ex-boyfriend, country singer Zach Bryan, of emotional abuse. The 25-year-old podcast host, who got her start as an intern at Barstool Sports and has since turned into an internet sensation, got real during an episode of BFFs on Nov. 7 where she vulnerably shared her story. Since then, fans have rushed to her side to send support and open up about their own experiences with toxic relationships.

This week, LaPaglia joined fellow internet personality Alix Earle, who became Sports Illustrated Swimsuit’s inaugural digital cover star in June, for an episode of the Hot Mess podcast titled “Leaving An Abusive Relationship,” where she chronicled the ups and downs of her relationship with Bryan. While their romance started off very positive, LaPaglia quickly noticed red flags that, as she explained, escalated.

Brianna LaPaglia joins Alix Earle’s podcast Hot Mess

LaPaglia shared with Earle that Bryan love-bombed her in the beginning, telling her they were “soulmates” on their second date. But for LaPaglia, this was understandably flattering. He is a “rockstar,” after all, she said. At the start of their romance, the singer commended her on her career and success, she explained, but that eventually changed. She also revealed that he would talk about their future a lot—way more than their present—expressing his desire to get married and have kids. And while commitment is usually what you want out of a relationship, LaPaglia realized this extreme was not normal. The love-bombing, as she recalled, then turned into manipulation, gaslighting her for just being herself. She was forced to feel like she was “walking on eggshells” all of the time.

LaPaglia told Earle that while Bryan was allowed to talk about his emotions, she was not allowed to express hers. She referred to what she went through as “narcissistic abuse,” recalling that he would often twist her words and confuse her to the point that she wouldn’t know what to say back to him. The toxicity of their relationship made her “low-key hate” herself, something Earle admitted she could relate to.

Earle also opened up about a toxic relationship she endured before meeting her now-boyfriend, NFL player Braxton Berrios, and the pair bonded over that shared experience. They discussed how difficult it became to even talk about the situation with their friends, as it would feel “humiliating” to reveal the truth about their relationship while still staying in it and bringing the person around.

“It was, like, the darkest couple of months of my life because—I talked about it on BFFs—like, he completely isolated me from my life,” LaPaglia shared. “I lived on a tour bus, I couldn’t do things that I wanted to do. ... I couldn’t do anything. I stopped doing my career. He wanted me to quit Barstool. I couldn’t talk to my family about anything; I wasn’t home. So I was just in this bubble and it was a constant—like, it was a revolving door of my thoughts, just, like, back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. And I’m like, I could tell my friends—one, are they even going to understand, two I’m kind of embarrassed. Like I was genuinely embarrassed of what I was putting up with, and, like, to go from such a confident person, and, like, a strong woman to, like, being abused—I felt embarrassed.”

Fortunately, LaPaglia is now starting to realize that what she went through is not her fault, and she shouldn’t blame herself for what happened. Her story has resonated with both women and men, and she serves as an inspiration for getting through it and being so vulnerable in talking about it.

Listen to LaPaglia’s appearance on Hot Mess With Alix Earle on Spotify, Apple Music or wherever you get your podcasts.