Country star breaks up with girlfriend who says she was 'blindsided'

Zach Bryan and Brianna “Chickenfry” LaPaglia have gone their separate ways.

The country singer confirmed the couple's split after just over a year in a post on Tuesday, a day after their split, according to LaPaglia.

Bryan made the news public on Instagram.

“I want to address something,” Bryan wrote on Instagram: “Brianna and I have separated and I respect and love her from the bottom of 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, he decided it would be best if he and LaPaglia went their separate ways.

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

LaPaglia said in an emotional video message via YouTube that she was “blindsided” by the news but is focused on healing.

“I wanted to heal privately, and I didn't even know he was going to post it,” she tearfully says in her vlog, mentioning that she and Bryan broke up on Monday (October 21). “I wasn’t ready to do anything publicly. …

“When I'm ready to talk about everything that happened, I will… but right now I'm just completely blindsided. I’m obviously very, very hurt at the moment.”

Mark Heim is a reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Mark_Heim. He can be heard daily from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. on “The Opening Kickoff” on WNSP-FM 105.5 FM in Mobile or on the free Sound of Mobile app.