It was date night for Zach Bryan and Bri LaPaglia aka "Brianna Chickenfry."
The couple got all dressed up to attend the 2024 Grammy Awards in Los Angeles on Feb. 4. The country singer is nominated for three Grammys at this year's awards ceremony.
Bryan opted for a black suit, while LaPaglia looked stylish in a dark silky gown with lace sleeves.
While posing on the red carpet ahead of the telecast, the couple had a PDA-filled moment. Cameras captured the love birds sharing a kiss.
LaPaglia, meanwhile, has previously said she doesn’t care what critics have to say about her new relationship with Bryan.
While speaking with People at the Streamy Awards 2023, the“Barstool Sports” host said that she had been getting a lot of online “hate” for dating the country star.
“It’s fun. I’m like eating it up,” the influencer, whose real name is Brianna LaPaglia, said with a laugh. “It was kind of crazy at first, but now, I realize you can’t buy into love — or hate — on the internet. You just kinda got to be yourself and see where it takes ya.”
“I wanted to keep it quiet as long as I could, but everyone on the internet is FBI agents, so they figured everything out and I was like, ‘I need to get ahead of it, I need to say what’s right, what’s real and what’s true,’ so I did it on my podcast," LaPaglia added.
'The timeline is legit': Why there's focus on when LaPaglia and Bryan met
On July 27, 2023, LaPaglia took to her podcast,“PlanBri Uncut,” to reveal confirm that she was "hanging out" with Bryan — and to clear up some details about when, exactly, they started dating.
LaPaglia and Bryan were linked not long after he broke up with ex-girlfriend Deb Peifer.
"People love timelines, man," co-host Grace O'Malley said.
"The timeline s--- is so annoying. I don't want to have to show ..." LaPaglia said. "It's so silly to be like, 'Here's this text, here's this picture.' It's stupid. Take me for what I"m saying."
O'Malley said, "The timeline is legit."
"I wouldn't say it if it wasn't true. I'd just keep it to myself. We're honest to a fault," LaPaglia said.
So, what is the story that LaPaglia and Bryan have shared about their "casual" relationship, as she put it? Read on.
May 2023: Zach Bryan and Brianna LaPaglia meet at the Academy of Country Music Awards
Bryan and LaPaglia first met at the Academy of Country Music Awards in May 2023. At the time, both were in other relationships.
In a vlog shared on her podcast's official YouTube channel, LaPaglia frequently mentioned her excitement about meeting the country singer. "All I want to do is meet Zach Bryan," she said.
She then detailed her reaction to meeting the country star, calling Bryan the "nicest man I've ever met in my entire life."
"I'm so happy," she added.
May 2023: Zach Bryan announces he and Deb Peifer are separating
On May 31, Bryan announced that he and his then-girlfriend Peifer "went their separate ways."
"For transparency and with respect I am letting everyone know Debra and me went our separate ways about a week and a half ago," he shared on X (formerly known as Twitter). "Things are mutual between us, we’re leaving with plenty memories and good times. I beg so much that everyone respects her and my privacy through a hard time."
June 2023: Zack Bryan slides into LaPaglia's DMs
On her "BFFs" podcast with co-hosts Josh Richards and Dave Portnoy, LaPaglia said she reconnected with Bryan at his June 2023 concert at Forest Hills stadium in Queens, New York.
At the time, LaPaglia was in a relationship; Bryan was single.
"I was still with my boyfriend at the concert. And then, a few days later, me and Joey break up. And (Zach) had already broken up with his girlfriend, and then he f--kin’ slid into my DMs," she said.
“I made a podcast after we went onstage and was like, ‘Eat the rich besides Zach Bryan’ and he posted it and then he DM’d me and said, ‘That was so sweet, thank you guys for coming.’ And then we just started chatting," she added.
July 2023: LaPaglia announces they're dating
On the July 27 episode of her podcast“PlanBri Uncut,” LaPaglia revealed that she had been “hanging out” with Bryan for three weeks.
“It’s fun, it’s casual and yeah, I just wanted to address it because the whole internet is freaking the f--- out and people are doing s---” she said.
“But we’re just hanging out, we're having fun, and that’s where I’ve been. That’s what I’ve been doing and that’s what I’m going to be doing for a little bit. We’ll see where it goes, and I’m happy," she added.
August 2023: Brianna LaPaglia calls herself Bryan's 'girlfriend
In early August, LaPaglia clarified her relationship timeline with Bryan on her "BFFs" podcast, which she co-hosts with Portnoy and Josh Richards.
The episode, titled "Bri gets grilled for hiding Zach Bryan relationship," was specifically about this topic — Portnoy criticized LaPaglia for not wanting to talk about Bryan on their last recording, only to reveal it on her own podcast.
"We literally missed the news cycle. We are an entertainment, gossip, dating podcast. You're dating a famous person. You hid it from us. We broke it, everywhere but us," she said.
LaPaglia defended herself by saying a photo of Bryan with her in the background went viral — and that's why she went public.
While speaking with her co-hosts, she said that she was trying to keep her relationship with Bryan under wraps at first.
“I thought we were just going to get away with it for a little bit, ‘cause I knew what the reaction was going to be because I just got out of a relationship, he just got out of a relationship,” she said.
In the episode, she also noted that she had been dating her ex-boyfriend for about a year until they broke up and she started seeing Bryan. She said there's no story here.
“People break up and get into new relationships. This is so normal. What is the point of a grace period?” LaPaglia said.
Her co-hosts roasted her by showing her a blind item about their relationship, which called him a "B list country singer." She defended him by calling him "A list."
"You're his girlfriend," Portnoy said.
"I thought that before that."
Joyann Jeffrey
Joyann Jeffrey is a trending news reporter based in New York City
