Chase Stokes and Kelsea Ballerini’s Complete Relationship Timeline
On Thursday, February 23, Outer Banks star Chase Stokes posted a photo to his Instagram Story of singer Kelsea Ballerini giving him a kiss on the cheek. The pair were rumored to be dating and have since confirmed that there is indeed a romance between them. In the photo, Stokes was smiling with his eyes closed and cuddling Ballerini.
Both Stokes and Ballerini ended some high-profile relationships in the last few years. In November 2022, Ballerini reached a settlement in her divorce from ex-husband Morgan Evans. They married in 2017.
Stokes was most recently linked to co-star Madelyn Cline, who he dated for about a year and a half, confirming their break up in November 2021. They still had to shoot the third season of Outer Banks together and seem to have remained on good terms.
“Mads and I have been working together now for 30 episodes, and we made a promise to each other before we even started dating that the work was always going to come first,” Stokes told Entertainment Weekly. “And that no matter what happens in our personal lives, and the ways that life sometimes takes you in different directions, that we’re always going to honor the work. That stayed 100 percent truthful this season.”
Here’s the definitive timeline of Stokes and Ballerini’s relationship so far.
Stokes posted a cozy photo with Ballerini while watching the college football national championship game at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, where Georgia played TCU. It was snuck into a carousel captioned, “Lil recap.”
Around the same time, the country artist shared her own collection of photos, captioned, “New boot goofin.” In one image, she’s wearing a baseball cap repping her hometown of Knoxville, Tennessee, and Stokes commented, “I like dat hat ma’am.”
The two were spotted in a bar together in Nashville later that month, but a source told US Weekly at the time that were not officially dating.
“Chase and Kelsea have been flirting back and forth since meeting through friends at the College Football National Championship Game in L.A., but they’re not together,” the insider said. “They both think the other is very attractive, so you never know [what could happen].”
Ballerini made an appearance on the Call Her Daddy podcast, sharing that she is “having fun” after her divorce and admitted that she slid in Stokes’ DMs. She told host Alex Cooper, “I was ready to open back up...I just felt, why not? I’ve never really dated; I don’t know how it works. I’m like, ‘Let’s just put ourselves out there; let’s just vibe.’ And it’s been fun.”
Her Instagram move was partially motivated by the fact she isn’t “going to get on an app.” They followed one another and started chatting.
“I’ve never seen his show, but I just knew of him, and I just swan dove right on in,” Ballerini said, then shared her first message. “His handle is ‘@hichasestokes,’ and I said, ‘Hi, Chase Stokes.’”
Stokes told People that same month that he and Ballerini “have just been spending some time together.”
“Kelsea is a lovely, lovely girl,” he said. “She’s great. We’re having a good time.”
After it was announced that the singer would be the musical guest on Saturday Night Live on March 4, Stokes said to Extra, “She’s an incredible human being...I adore her to death. This is a huge moment for her. So, I’m just very, very proud of her.”
In late February, Bellerini shared a picture of her and Stokes’ hand (presumably) holding seashells on the beach, writing her camera roll has been “cute” lately. He reshared it to his own Instagram Story.
Stokes confirmed that he and Ballerini are actually dating while making an appearance on The Today Show with Sheinelle Jones. Jones mentioned Ballerini’s upcoming appearance on Saturday Night Live, then said to the camera, “For those who don’t know, they’re dating,” referring to Stokes.
Unphased, Stokes responded,“Mhm,” in the affirmative.
When asked if he is a fan of her music, he answered, “Absolutely I’m a fan. Yeah, who isn’t a fan?”
On March 1, a source told ET, “Kelsea is focusing on the good things in her life and her relationship with Chase. They’re having a great time together. Chase has been super supportive of her, and they are there for each other both professionally and in their personal lives.”
Ballerini made her Saturday Night Live performance debut on March 4, and she and Stokes were seen walking hand-in-hand through New York City shortly before her appearance. The couple dressed casually in jeans and layered tops for the late winter weather.
The singer started her SNL set with her song “Blindsided” from her recently released EP, Rolling Up the Welcome Mat. The song is allegedly about her relationship with her ex-husband, Morgan Evans.
“And now you’re saying that you’re lost and that’s lost on me / You didn’t ever wanna leave the house, or didn’t want a family / I know the truth is hard to hear, but it wasn’t hard to find / Baby, were you blindsided or were you just blind?” Ballerini sang.
Stokes and Ballerini visited her hometown of Knoxville, Tennessee.
The couple attended the premiere party for the Broadway musical Shucked at Capitale in New York City, and then made their official red carpet debut later that month at the 2023 CMT Music Awards.
In an interview with Stylecaster, Ballerini opened up about her relationship, saying, “The thing that we’ve decided, and to each their own, is when you’re with someone that you feel secure with and that you’re proud to be with, why not share it?”
She added, “He’s also a Virgo; we’re both Labrador Retrievers in human form. It doesn’t take much conversation to be on the same page. It’s been half a year and it’s been great.”
Later that month they attended the Armani Beauty’s Acqua dI Gio and Gen A party in Malibu and shared a little PDA on the red carpet.
In early August, Stokes and Ballerini attended the screening of her Rolling Up the Welcome Mat short film in New York.
On August 19, Ballerini shared a throwback video taken as she was getting ready for her very first date with Stokes. She shared it on TikTok with the caption, “Happy weekend heres a video i sent to my best friend before my first date with chase #howdoidothis #rollingupthewelcomemat.”
She set the clip to her song “How Do I Do This,” as she showed off her outfit: a black minidress and black cowboy boots.
“Here’s the look, with the boots,” she says, adding, “We’ve got the hair clip, because we’re trying to be a cool girl.”
Later in the clip, she describes her plans, saying, “He’s picking me up and we’re going to a sushi place and I’ll call you tomorrow and for a full update.”
Clearly nervous, Ballerini states, “I can do this. I can do this...it’s just a date..you just go and you just eat food and you talk about things that you do, okay?”
Ballerini and Stokes attended the MTV VMAs together on September 12 and kissed on the red carpet. The ceremony also happened to be on Ballerini’s 30th birthday.
She spoke to Entertainment Tonight about how she had been celebrating the weeks leading up to the milestone with Stokes. “I’ve just been spending the last few weeks with him and with my friends and with my mom—she’s here tonight— and I’ve just been really in my real life. And this feels like I’m a little floaty tonight, but it’s a good shock to the system.”
Stokes confirmed that he and Ballerini had been dating for about nine months. He gave himself a pep talk before their first date: “Don’t screw this up! Because I kind of knew before then, I was like, ‘Uh oh, I really like this girl.’”
On Saturday, September 16, Ballerini celebrated Stokes’ 31st birthday with a carousel of pictures, writing in the caption, “happy birthday, my sweet virgo.”
The images include photos of the couple dressed up for events, enjoying intimate moments at home, and one screenshot of the conversation that started it all. The last slide shows the DM Ballerini sent her soon-to-be boyfriend at 1:07 A.M. on Dec. 1, 2022.
All she wrote to start was, “Hii Chase Stokes.”
A couple hours later, he replies, “Hey how you doin.”
The next morning, she added, “I’m Kels, nice to meet you.”
In the comments on the post, Stokes wrote, “My human,” adding a heart emoji.
The couple walked the red carpet at the 2023 CMA Awards at Bridgestone Arena on Nov. 8, 2023 in Nashville, Tennessee.
On the November 29 episode of the Call Her Daddy podcast, Ballerini warned her mom, Carla Denham, to turn it off before divulging what her sex life with Stokes has been like.
“Mom, turn it off! Mother, turn it off!” she joked, before offering the PG observation that she is “having a nice time.”
On a more serious note, Ballerini said that in previous relationships she “always felt” like she was putting on a show in bed.
“My experience with it was very performative and for the other person,”she explained. “And it don’t be like that anymore...I didn’t understand how it could be a real connector in a relationship. I never understood that. I always thought that it was just something that you did because that’s who you do it with. You know? And, no, no, no—now I realize it’s a connector for people.”
She said she grew up in the South and had a more conservative view, but is now trying to make discussing sex less “taboo.”
“The safety it gives you is so beautiful,” she added. “You get to know yourself and it’s a whole new world.”
She also shared how, after their first DM exchange, they texted and FaceTimed quite a bit before finally meeting in January 2023. He came to a party where she was performing.
“He hopped out of his Bronco, and he did not say a word to me,” Ballerini recalled. “And he grabbed my face and he kissed me and he pulled my face away and he said, ‘Thank God you’re real.’”
She continued, “He’s the most emotionally intelligent man I’ve ever met in my life. I keep telling him he’s a man written by a woman.”
On Jan. 7, 2024, both Stokes and Ballerini posted carousels of their last year together on Instagram to mark their anniversary. In her caption, Ballerini wrote, “a whole trip around the sun with my bestie. @hichasestokes thanks for making me write love songs.”
The pictures were full of vacations together, restaurants, and Stokes supporting her at shows.
In the comments, Stokes wrote, “I really really ❤️ you.”
In his own carousel, the actor shared sweet pictures of the two of them together, and one of Ballerini waking ahead of him on a suburban street. He captioned it, “One year of lovin you ❤️ p.s. told ya I wouldn’t embarrass you 🥰.”
Stokes responded to commenters claiming he is oversharing his relationship in an interview with E!. Instagram offers just a “glimpse” of their life together, he said.
“Sometimes it feels like maybe it’s an oversharing situation, or maybe there’s a lot of details, but I truthfully believe that my personal life is really, really private,” he commented, stressing that he feels no obligation to share anything. “I still feel like I have a really good grasp on my privacy.”
He also detailed how they handle date nights when they are physically apart: “We’ve done FaceTime date nights where we’ll pick a cuisine and then figure out, ‘Do we want to do red wine tonight? Do we want to do a white wine or are we just drinking water?’ So, we have found beautiful ways to make distance at times work.”
“We’ve been really fortunate in this recent chapter that our busy seasons have not overlapped,” he added. “So, [Kelsea will] either be here or I’ll go to Nashville, which has made it really nice. In the future and as we’ve continued to grow in our relationship, we just try to make sure our schedules can coexist, and we have time.”
On April 7, the couple attended the CMT Music Awards together. On the red carpet, Ballerini spoke about possibly doing a musical collaboration with Stokes. “He has such a good voice, too,” she told Entertainment Tonight. “He has such a good talking voice, just when he sings I’m like, ‘Agh, yeah.’ I’m trying [to get him to record something with me]. I’m just like, ‘Do like a pseudonym and sing a harmony on the record, no one has to know.’”
Ballerini and Stokes made their Met Gala debut together. For the biggest night in fashion, the singer slipped into a sheer nude Michael Kors gown covered with flowers. There were even flowers in her hair, which was styled in a bun. Stokes went shirtless underneath a black sequin suit that he left unbuttoned, and added a layer of necklaces.
In one photo, the Outer Banks actor held the train of her gown as they walked down the Met steps together. And in a video captured from the red carpet, Stokes carried Ballerini’s jacket while she posed for solo photos and greeted the press.
Later that month, Ballerini shared some casual photos to Instagram, and in the carousel she included a picture of a love letter written by Stokes.
“Hi honey,” he began the note. “I hope your travels were good. I’m really glad the night and performance went well. You sounded incredible. I’m really really fucking proud of you.”
“Thanks again for committing to being here,” Stokes continued. “I hope you know it’s not overlooked or underappreciated. Here’s a bottle of your favorite (Whole Foods edition) of wine to settle in with till I get back.”
He ended the letter by saying, “I love you. I can’t wait to see you.”
Along with the bottle of wine, some chocolates and a vase of sunflowers surrounded the note on the counter.
Ballerini also snuck a selfie with Stokes into the carousel of photos.
During an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Stokes shared some stories from his early days with Ballerini. His mother was apparently a fan of the singer before she knew who her son was dating.
“I went home and every year for the holidays I go back to my mom’s house. And I drove from Charleston where I live to Florida, where my mom is, and I came down the stairs and she has music playing,” Stokes said. “I was like, ‘Wait a minute… Is that Kelsea Ballerini playing on my mom’s speaker system? And I just looked up at the sky and was like ‘What the f—?’
He continued, “My mom heard me and she goes, ‘Is that her?’ And I was like, ‘Yep, yeah, that’s the girl I told you I was kind of talking to. It’s weird that you’re listening to her at your house. And it’s almost been two years [of dating] now.”
He also shared how things almost fell apart when they first started dating. At the time, he was filming a movie in Bulgaria and suffered an infection that sent him to the hospital. Ballerini thought he was ignoring her when he was getting treatment.
“We started talking back and forth and I ended up getting a staph infection and so I was in the hospital and she thought I had ghosted her,” he said. “And she’s like, ‘Okay, whatever. On to the next.’ And I texted her and I was like, ‘Hey, I’m so sorry, I was in the hospital with a staph infection.’”
He was afraid she didn’t believe him.
“I was like, ‘No, I’m serious.’ And I sent her a photo of my arm and it was the size of a baby seal,” he joked.
But it all worked out.
“I truthfully think when you find somebody who’s not just somebody you love and adore, but is also your best friend, you’ve kind of got the best of both worlds,” he continued. “And she’s not just a great person, but everything that you see—whether it be on social media or when she’s on stage—is exactly the person she is when she’s not doing those things.”
Later that month, while at the Paradise Club in New York City, Ballerini spoke with People about how Stokes has supported her through her creative work.
“He’s been such a big, beautiful part of my life for almost two years now,” Ballerini shared. “I’m really proud of the art that he’s inspired.”
She added that she was also in awe of his work as an actor.
“And I’m really proud to be with someone who’s a truth-teller in his own art too,” Ballerini shared. “And to be aligned in that way and to share parts of our relationship and that kind of stuff, so openly and willingly, is really beautiful.”
On October 16, Stokes appeared in Ballerini’s music video “First Rodeo.”
On Friday, October 25, at “A New York Evening With Kelsea Ballerini” at the Grammy Museum and Collective by 92NY in New York City, Ballerini revealed that she and Stokes were now living together. In an interview with People, the publication asked if they were cohabitating.
Ballerini replied, “Oh, we’re unpacked, baby!”
On November 29, Ballerini shared a carousel of pictures from her family Thanksgiving, which included shots of her making a giant turkey and some family karaoke. Stokes makes an appearance in a number of pictures, including hugging her as she holds her turkey plate, on a couch with the fam, and one adorable shot of them kissing next to a glimmering Christmas tree.
She captioned the post, “turkey: 5/10 thanksgiving karaoke: 1000/10 grateful for so so much, mostly the love that we get and we give away. 🤍”
On May 8, Ballerini and Stokes attended the Academy of Country Music Awards together, posing for photos on the red carpet at the Ford Center in Frisco, Texas. Ballerini wore a sleeveless nude sequin gown, while Stokes opted for a classic black suit.
The couple was affectionate in front of photographers, smiling and holding each other close. Ballerini was nominated in four categories, including Entertainer of the Year.
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