Three days after announcing her departure from Barstool Sports, comedian Grace O’Malley officially joined Alex Cooper’s Unwell Network.
The move marks a fresh chapter for O’Malley after a tumultuous friendship drama with Brianna “Chickenfry” LaPaglia, with whom she’d previously co-hosted the podcast PlanBri Uncut on Barstool Sports.
On Thursday, Unwell celebrated O’Malley’s arrival with an Instagram post: “@gracekomalley IS UN-F***ING-WELL!!! Welcome home,” the announcement read, accompanied by a carousel of images and clips of O’Malley celebrating with friends.
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Cooper, a former Barstool star turned media mogul, previously teased the collaboration on TikTok — two days after O’Malley officially confirmed on Dec. 16 that she was leaving Barstool Sports for good.
O’Malley’s new gig follows a public fallout with LaPaglia that ultimately led to the end of their podcast. On Dec. 11, LaPaglia appeared on the BFFs podcast, which she co-hosts alongside Josh Richards and Barstool founder Dave Portnoy. On that episode, she attributed the fallout, in part, to her relationship with country singer Zach Bryan, from whom she split in October.
Here’s a look back at the relationships and decisions that led to O’Malley’s departure from Barstool and her move to Unwell.
The rise and fall of ‘PlanBri Uncut’
O’Malley joined Barstool Sports in 2022 as the co-host of PlanBri Uncut alongside her childhood best friend, LaPaglia, who had initially started the podcast as a solo venture in college. The show went on to become hugely successful, even making Spotify’s 2024 Breakout Creators list.
Despite the success, decisions were made behind the scenes to cancel the podcast — the last episode was posted on Oct. 10, though LaPaglia subsequently used the platform to discuss her breakup with Bryan in an Oct. 22 video.
On Dec. 5, LaPaglia posted on social media that she was “working on bringing back some version of PlanBri.” O’Malley expressed surprise, telling her followers the next day that she thought they were going to put out a shared statement about the podcast ending. She also stressed that she hadn’t heard about any plans of producing a new podcast.
“That was my first time hearing about this,” O’Malley shared in a three-part Instagram Story on Dec. 6. “I most definitely did not foresee any of this EVER ending.”
O’Malley went on to say that the decision to end the podcast “was not a mutual decision,” though in the “grand scheme of things, it might actually end up being the right one.”
On the BFFs podcast, LaPaglia insisted that the duo were in constant communication about mutually ending the podcast, which LaPaglia said she wanted to end because she felt “it was like a forum to bully me [and] I couldn’t take it anymore.”
Five days later, O’Malley officially announced her departure from Barstool Sports.
“I wanted you guys to hear from me first that this is my last day at Barstool,” she wrote on her Instagram Stories. “I’m so grateful to everyone at the company and to [Portnoy] for taking a chance on me.”
The falling out — and how Zach Bryan fits in
A significant strain on the pair’s friendship came during LaPaglia’s on-again-off-again relationship with country singer Zach Bryan. LaPaglia later described the relationship as “emotional abuse,” claiming on the BFFs podcast that their dynamic took a toll on her friendships: “I lost my best friend,” she said.
Shortly before LaPaglia and Bryan’s breakup in October, listeners were upset when it seemed that LaPaglia was victim-blaming O’Malley for being sexually assaulted as a teenager.
Later, LaPaglia claimed on BFFs that O’Malley “never defended me” against the online hate she received — which was compounded by the victim-blaming incident and her frequent podcast absences, as she was often traveling with Bryan. LaPaglia claimed that O’Malley was aware of the abuse she was enduring behind the scenes in her relationship with Bryan.
According to LaPaglia, she confronted O’Malley in May about her disappointment, to which O’Malley allegedly said, “Well, I know the truth. Everyone knows that we’re best friends and everything you’ve done for me,” LaPaglia described on BFFs.
O’Malley, for her part, had no trouble calling Bryan a “hick” and a “motherf****er” during an appearance at a live comedy show in November.
During a separate comedy set captured on TikTok last week, before the Unwell announcement, O’Malley brought up the situation with LaPaglia again.
“Sorry if I’m not myself tonight, I’m going through a divorce,” she said at the Helium Comedy Club in Indianapolis on Dec. 12. “It’s a very common type of divorce with just a few minor differences. For example, it’s not a marriage, it was a 15-year friendship. She’s not keeping the house, she’s keeping the podcast.”
Dave Portnoy weighs in
The day after O’Malley confirmed she was leaving Barstool Sports, the company’s founder gave his thoughts on her departure, in light of online commenters accusing him of favoring LaPaglia over O’Malley.
“Emergency walk and talk — everybody knows Grace quit (Monday),” Portnoy said in a Dec. 17 video on X. “I’m still getting DMs from people being like, ‘Dave, you f****ing fired her. You’re a scumbag for picking sides.’ People are saying her message was subliminal like she was really forced out.”
Portnoy went on to say that LaPaglia called him in October to inform him she wanted to end the podcast due to her clashing friendship with O’Malley.
“I don’t know what people want Barstool to do,” he said. “You have two friends, 20 years, both employees, who ended up f***ing hating each other. So it sucks. It’s probably for the best that O’Malley goes on her way and who knows with Bri.”
Grace’s new chapter with Unwell
Grace O’Malley announced that she is joining the Unwell Network. (Arturo Holmes/Getty Images for iHeartRadio)
Days after leaving Barstool, O’Malley found a new home at Cooper’s Unwell Network. Cooper, who famously broke away from Barstool with her hit podcast Call Her Daddy, welcomed O’Malley with open arms.
“You can stop tagging me,” Cooper teased on TikTok, hinting at the collaboration. By Dec. 19, the partnership was official, with Unwell announcing Grace’s arrival on social media. It’s unclear what her role at the network will be.
What’s next for the former BFFs?
O’Malley’s move to Unwell marks a significant step in her career, but while she embarks on this new chapter, LaPaglia remains at Barstool — reportedly working on a revamped version of PlanBri Uncut, according to her post on Dec. 5.
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