“I let down people who love me”

Zach Bryan and Brianna “Chickenfry” LaPaglia have split after a year of dating.

The “Pink Skies” singer announced the split on his Instagram Story on Tuesday, confirming speculation that began Monday after screenshots of a dating app profile believed to belong to Bryan circulated online. But even as fans waited for a breakup announcement, LaPaglia said just hours after Bryan broke the news that she was “blindsided.”

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“I want to address something,” Bryan wrote, “Brianna and I have separated and I respect and love her with all my heart. She has loved me unconditionally for a very long time and I will always thank her for that.”

The Grammy winner said it's been “an incredibly tough year personally” in which he's “battled through some pretty tough things.” In the end, he said, it was best if he and LaPaglia went their separate ways.

“I am not perfect and never will be,” he said. “For all that I am and for everyone I let down, I am sorry. I do my best in everything. I have let down people who love me and especially myself.”

Hours later, LaPaglia seemingly responded to Bryan's post.

“Hey guys, I'm feeling really blindsided right now,” the internet personality said on her Instagram Story, sharing plans to “steer clear of social media for a while and try to heal privately.”

“When I'm ready, I'll be back and ready to talk,” she said, concluding her post with a message to her fans: “Remember, you are so loved and everything will always be okay.”

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Bryan and LaPaglia began dating in July 2023 and made their red carpet debut in February at the 2024 Grammys, where the self-producing country artist won his first award for “I Remember Everything,” his chart-topping duet with Kacey Musgraves led.

LaPaglia previously debunked breakup rumors surrounding the couple on the Oct. 2 episode of Barstool Sports' “BFFs” podcast, which she co-hosts with Dave Portnoy and Josh Richards.

Weeks before the episode aired, Bryan was criticized for a now-deleted tweet in which he implied Kanye West's superiority over Taylor Swift. He later apologized for the post, saying he was “drunkenly comparing two records and a mistake came out.”

“It was a really bad week for me. I deleted all my social media,” LaPaglia said. “I don’t want to speak for Zach, but he kind of spoke for himself on Instagram. He’s going through a lot of personal issues right now – and I feel like I’m bearing the brunt of it.”

“I mean, it’s crazy. We don't post each other for a week and it took the internet by storm,” she said, emphasizing that after a week apart, the two are “together now and everything is fine.”

Before changing her mind on Tuesday, LaPaglia had posted a cryptic passage about letting go of the past a day earlier.

“At some point you will find that life will go on even when you don’t want it to: the days will pass and the world will move as you ask it to stop,” the passage says.

“The world keeps turning hoping to show you that you can do it too.”

Bryan is currently taking a break from his Quittin Time Tour, which continues November 17th in Alberta, Canada.

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This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.