Zach Bryan and girlfriend Brianna Chickenfry were in a 'horrible' car accident, she says
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Country singer Zach Bryan and girlfriend Brianna LaPaglia were injured in a "horrifying" car accident but are "absolutely OK."
According to podcast host LaPaglia — known on TikTok and YouTube as Brianna Chickenfry — the couple was in a "traumatizing side-by-side car crash" amid the "Something in the Orange" singer's Quittin' Time tour.
The "PlanBri Uncut" and "BFFs" host didn't get into specifics, but said in a TikTok video posted Tuesday that the car "flipped a bunch of times," "everything shattered," there was a "a lot of blood" and she and Bryan "thought we were saying goodbye to each other." She noted that they were wearing their seatbelts during the incident and that ambulances responded. LaPaglia said she had shards of glass in her body and Bryan suffered a "huge gash" and was grateful that the injury didn't affect an artery.
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But the two didn't dwell on the scary experience. LaPaglia said it was "brushed over" so that they could drive to Bryan's next tour stop, in Arkansas, where the singer had a two-night stint at Simmons Bank Arena in North Little Rock on Monday and Tuesday. However, he was further injured when LaPaglia's cat bolted out of the tour bus and into the woods, with Bryan bursting his stitches chasing her.
A representative for Bryan told The Times on Thursday, “Nothing more to report!”
After getting an outpouring of support from her followers, LaPaglia responded to one comment by saying: "We are absolutely okay!!! Just horrifying in the moment!!! Love you guys ❤️❤️❤️"
The Barstool Sports podcast host said they were operating on little sleep and that she had an early start time to record her podcasts, struggling to be "chipper and happy" because of what happened.
"I was so mentally out of it," she said. "My whole body hurts and I keep finding more bruises and scrapes."
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The content creator, who has dated Bryan since last summer, lamented the touring life, noting that she had spent four months on the road with Bryan recently and the latest stint has been two months long so far. In a subsequent TikTok, she said that she will now be harping on people to wear seatbelts.
"I'm going to be that helicopter stupid f— annoying friend that's like, 'Put your seatbelt on or the car's not moving,'" she said. "If you get anything from me ... that I've ever posted in my whole entire social-media career in the past five years, is wear a seatbelt. If we didn't have our seatbelts on we would be literally decapitated, [have] broken necks or dead."
Bryan — the raw and rootsy singer-songwriter who has self-produced his albums — has ruffled feathers in the Nashville record industry by building an enormous audience without relying on country radio for help. Embarking on his latest tour in March, the musician sweetly recognized LaPaglia on Instagram days after the incident.
"This lady holds the weight up of everyone around her day in and day out," he wrote in an Instagram Story over a picture of LaPaglia. "Through these month long tour runs, to my degenerate ass making an album. You're my muse Brianna and I don't understand how the hell you hold it together when people around you can't. Thank you forever and always no matter what."
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The "I Remember Everything" singer also shared a screenshot of their text messages, writing: "She sends me these day in and day out. No matter how tired I am, no matter how she feels. She's the most loving and supporting woman on the planet."
The Oklahoma singer is back in his home state ahead of Friday and Saturday concerts in Oklahoma City. From there, he heads to Oakland for a May 31 show at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, then is slated to play three nights, June 2-4, at Crypto.com Arena in downtown Los Angeles.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
