Haliey Welch Says She Reached Out to Brianna LaPaglia After Zach Bryan Breakup: 'Miss Bri Did Not Deserve That'

Mar. 15, 2025

Brianna LaPaglia and Haliey Welch.Photo:Michael Tullberg/Getty; Monica Schipper/Getty

Michael Tullberg/Getty; Monica Schipper/Getty

Haliey Welchis supportingBrianna “Chickenfry” LaPagliaafter her breakup with country singerZach Bryan.

The 22-year-old internet star opened up about LaPaglia, 25, on the recent episode of herTalk Tuahpodcast as she addressed rumors that she was dating Bryan, quipping it was a “bad time for that rumor to come out” amid his contentious breakup with LaPaglia.

“I’m here for the girls,” Welch said on the recentTalk Tuahepisode, showing her support for LaPaglia. “Miss Bri did not deserve that.”

“I felt really bad for her,” she continued. “I sent her a message and she didn’t respond to it, but I don’t expect her to,” she said, noting that she was probably already getting a lot of messages from other people.

Haliey Welch and Brianna ‘Chickenfry’ LaPaglia.Plan Bri Uncut/YouTube

Plan Bri Uncut/YouTube

Despite Bryan and LaPaglia’s breakup, Welch said that she hoped LaPaglia would be able to “take time to heal,” adding that she would “find her a good man” in the future.

LaPaglia first interviewed Welch on an episode of thePlan Bri Uncutpodcastback in July. The pair spoke about Welch’s viral “hawk tuah” moment and the opportunities it brought her, including the chance to join Bryan on stage during his encore performance of “Revival” in June at Nashville’s Nissan Stadium.

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LaPaglia and Bryan first met in May 2023 at the Academy of Country Music Awards and officially began dating in July 2023. The pair were together for over a year when Bryanconfirmed their breakupon Oct. 22 and asked for privacy for both of them.

“Brianna and me have broken up and I respect and love her with every ounce of my heart,” Bryan wrote at the time. “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.”

Zach Bryan and Bri LaPaglia.Gilbert Flores/Getty

Gilbert Flores/Getty

She called it a constant cycle of “build you up, beat you down, apologize over and over” and said the last year was “the hardest year” of her life.

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

She added that she wanted to open up about her own experiences “for anyone else that’s been emotionally abused and for people right now being emotionally abused.”

“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—,” she continued. “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.”

source: people.com