Brianna LaPaglia, better known to her followers as Brianna Chickenfry, and her “Plan Bri Uncut” podcast co-host, Grace O’Malley, are encountering some troubles in their longtime friendship.
Throughout the past year, rumors have been flying that the best friends were no longer such. Now, each of them are speaking out to explain their sides of the story and how their friendship broke down. Here’s what to know.
TODAY.com has reached out to LaPaglia and O’Malley respectively for additional comment.
Who are Brianna LaPaglia and Grace O’Malley?
LaPaglia, 25, and O’Malley, 26, had been best friends growing up in Massachusetts and had together hosted the “Plan Bri Uncut” podcast under Barstool Sports.
LaPaglia also co-hosts Barstool’s “BFFs” podcast and spoke in a Dec. 11 episode about starting the “Plan Bri” podcast solo from her dorm room as a college advice show. When LaPaglia moved to New York to pursue the podcast with Barstool, she invited O’Malley to move with her. O’Malley eventually became co-host of “Plan Bri” and had been for the last two years, according to LaPaglia.
LaPaglia had went through a public breakup with country music star Zach Bryan in the fall. In a Nov. 7 episode of “BFFs,” LaPaglia had reflected on the split and accused Bryan of “narcissistic, emotional abuse for a year.” (Bryan has not responded to LaPaglia’s claims. He and LaPaglia did not return TODAY.com’s requests for additional comment at the time.)
As for O’Malley, she is pursuing a career in comedy. She opened several shows for Whitney Cummings on her “Big Baby Tour” this fall. She’s now on her own stand-up tour that goes into the spring.
After her fallout with LaPaglia, O’Malley said in a statement on her Instagram story Dec. 16 that she was parting ways with Barstool. On Dec. 19, O’Malley and the Unwell Network, headed by podcaster (and former Barstool talent) Alex Cooper, said she was joining the Unwell family. They did not provide details about what that entails.
When did Brianna Chickenfry and Grace O’Malley’s fallout happen?
It’s unclear when exactly O’Malley and LaPaglia’s friendship began to falter.
However, fans began to speculate that something was amiss with the duo after O’Malley celebrated her 26th birthday in October. She posted on Instagram a myriad of photos with friends, thanking them for celebrating with her.
“i had myself one of the best birthdays of all time,” she wrote in the caption. “thank you so very kindly to all of you sweeties who reached out and showed out. much love xoxo.”
LaPaglia was not pictured in any of the photos. Plus, “Plan Bri” hadn’t had a new episode since Oct. 10, leading fans to wonder if something was amiss.
What has Brianna Chickenfry said?
Some had speculated that LaPaglia’s relationship with Bryan had caused a strain in hers with O’Malley. When LaPaglia opened up about her breakup with Bryan on the Nov. 7 episode of “BFFs,” co-host Dave Portnoy asked LaPaglia how her friendship with O’Malley was now that she and Bryan split.
“Good,” she said. “Me and Grace will always be fine.”
Then in the Dec. 12 episode of “BFFs,” LaPaglia shared that she and O’Malley were indeed on the outs and opened up about her side of the story.
She said about a year and a half ago, the internet began pitting her and O’Malley against each other. Then when she began dating Bryan, that relationship formed a “wedge” in her friendship with O’Malley.
“But she knew that this was the worst year of my life,” LaPaglia said. “This is when the internet started attacking me. They only lift Grace up when they’re beating me down. … It was, like, whatever because it helped her career, and she was fine and happy about it. But it got to a point where she was, like, never defending me.”
“You can hate (Bryan), but you can still be there for me,” LaPaglia added. “And she never was.”
LaPaglia claimed she went to O’Malley in May and asked her to defend her online. She said O’Malley responded by saying she knows the truth and that LaPaglia has supported her.
“On top of everything that I was going through, I just couldn’t take it anymore,” she said. “I ended our friendship — I was like, I have to take a step away from this because it was, like, months of me being like, Grace, can you just defend me?”
“I needed her so bad, and I know she needed me too during that year. She felt like I left her. That’s why I’m saying these are two separate conversations,” she added. “Everyone’s saying Grace deserves better, Grace lost her best friend. But I lost my best friend too. … I brought her along for everything in my life. I gave her everything, and I would do it all over again. … But when things get hard, and she knew what I was going through, I really needed her.”
She then commented on their work dynamic on “Plan Bri.”
“I couldn’t do the podcast anymore because we’re sitting there pretending to be friends. … I needed to set a boundary — I can’t continue this show anymore. So I ended the show.”
What has Grace O’Malley said?
O’Malley hasn’t responded to LaPaglia’s claims on the “BFFs” podcast about what she says led to their fallout. According to Portnoy, who’s also the founder of Barstool, he asked O’Malley to come on “BFFs” to explain her side of the story, but she declined.
O’Malley has, however, spoken out about “Plan Bri.”
In early December, LaPaglia posted an Instagram story when “Plan Bri” made Spotify Wrapped’s “Breakout Creators of 2024” list. She wrote: “working on bringing back some version of Planbri guys.”
This elicited a response from O’Malley. She posted on her Instagram story Dec. 6 that she was unaware of LaPaglia’s effort to bring back “Plan Bri.”
She said:
hi guys! if you know me you know i truly hate having to be serious about anything ever, but sometimes you just have to be. so, here it is (can you tell i’m trying to stall even in this weird notes app post)
for months i’ve been radio silent about the status of plan bri and it has killed me to leave you guys hanging. the plan was for brianna and me to put out a joint statement about the end of the podcast.
everything’s so weird and unfamiliar at the moment so i’ve just waited for the cue to put that out.
seeing all of you tag us in your spotify wrapped made me feel a few things: proud of what we’ve built, nostalgic for all these years, and frankly outright heartbroken that this chapter is closed. but, we agreed to make a joint statement, so i replied, cried, and chose not to repost or saying anything until it was time.
on that same day, you may have seen brianna post that she’s “working on bring back some version” of plan bri. to give you guys the much needed info you deserve, all i can say is that that was my first time hearing about this.
so, i feel as if it’s only fair to share my piece about all this jazz with you now.
my favorite part of this chapter of my life was not only all of you, but also getting to work with my best friend. it has truly been a dream job and i’m eternally grateful to both brianna & barstool for giving me the opportunity to work on such a fantastic show with an even better team.
this last year, i’ve bit my tongue so much that i shouldn’t have one anymore. i was willing to wait out of respect, but things don’t always work out the way you think they will. in fact they rarely do. i most defiantly did not foresee any of this EVER ending.
i don’t think i’ll ever fully get into every aspect of how this came to be, but it should be said that, although this was not a mutual decision, i’m realizing that, in the grand scheme of things, it might actually end up being the right one.
i really don’t want to be the goofed up person who says things like “stay tuned” and “big things coming soon” bc we all know i just mean i’m working on creating another type of the same thing, but more me. thats kind of how it goes. i want you all to know that i’m staying at barstool and, when it comes to chit chatting on a weekly basis, i’ll be right back.
i’m always transparent and honest with you and … honestly i have a pit in my stomach as i post this but hey … that’s showbiz baby!
i love and adore you guys. see you soon xoxo
Though she said in that statement on Dec. 6 that she was staying at Barstool, she then shared Dec. 16 on her Instagram story that she was parting with Barstool.
“I wanted you guys to hear it from me first that this is my last day at Barstool,” she wrote in the post. “I’m so grateful to everyone at the company and to Dave for taking a chance on me. I’m just as surprised as you are there are no typos in this statement.”
