Kelsea Ballerini and Chase Stokes' Relationship Timeline
There's an astronomical amount of interest in celebrities' dating lives. Who's Margot Robbie or Emma Stone's husband? What's there to know about Keanu Reeves' girlfriend and Ines de Ramon, Brad Pitt's partner? Celebrity couples provide a sense of escapism—an extension of reality TV where we can keep up in real time on social media. Kelsea Ballerini and Chase Stokes are no different.
Ballerini, a country star, and Stokes, an actor best known for his role on Outerbanks, are among the newer celebrity power couples. Rumor has it the couple began dating in 2023, just a year after Ballerini's very public divorce from her ex-husband of five years, Morgan Evans. From PDA-filled Instagram photos to red carpet sightings, the couple is very much in love and not afraid to show it.
Here's what to know about their relationship timeline.
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Kelsea Ballerini and Chase Stokes' Relationship Timeline
In January 2023, Stokes and Ballerini made their first public appearance at a Georgia vs. Texas Christian University football game in Los Angeles, CA. While the picture was of a group (including some other celebs like Druski, Dylan Sprouse, and Stokes' Outerbanks co-stars Austin North and Jonathan Daviss), it's clear from the photo the pair was cozy. Two days after the group photo surfaced, Stokes soft-launched his new relationship via a carousel on Instagram.
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A few days after the Instagram posts, Ballerini took to her TikTok to discuss the never-ending rumor mill regarding celebrity relationships. While she didn't exactly deny the dating rumors she was also very clearly annoyed by the comments at the beginning of their fling.
Just a month after the two were seen getting cozy at the football game, Ballerini put the rumors to rest on an episode of Alex Cooper's Call Her Daddy podcast. When asked if she was single Ballerini replied with a laugh "Am I single? Am I single? Gosh. Um…nope. Everything's new for me, dating, being photographed with someone, like it's all really new. I'm tiptoeing and I'm happy...I'm really relearning a lot about myself and how I show up in a relationship and how I show up for myself. It's been a really beautiful reawakening."
She later talks about the aforementioned group photo.
“We had been hanging out and people got a photo of us at the game, at the championship. And so that was kind of just going,” she recalled on the podcast. “And he was like, ‘I mean, it’s gonna keep going. So should I just like poke the bear?’ and I was like, ‘Sure.’ And the poking the bear was like a photo of me just like, leaning on him.”
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The same month she did the podcast, Ballerini released her EP Rolling Up the Welcome Mat, documenting the end of her marriage.
“I think the beautiful thing about being with an artist — in a different field but an artist — is that also equates to being with a truth-teller,” she said on Sunday Today With Willie Geist. “When I got into this relationship, I hadn’t put out Welcome Mat to him. I remember I sent that EP to him and I just said, ‘Hey, you’re going to ask eventually. So, I’m just going to go ahead and give this to you.’ He lifted that record up and supported it and stood side-stage the whole time. That takes someone who really celebrates truth-telling, and believes in the person that’s doing it.”
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In March 2023, Stokes took to Instagram story to praise Ballerini's appearance as a musical guest on Saturday Night Live. Shortly after, fans noticed he was making regular appearances at Ballerini's shows on her HEARTFIRST Tour.
A month later, the pair made their first Hollywood appearance as a couple at the 2023 CMT Awards, where Ballerini was hosting with country artist Kane Brown. After the duo made their red carpet debut, they only got more public, posting stories in Ballerini's hometown of Knoxville and being spotted out and about.
In July 2023, rumors started flying that the couple got engaged, but neither one of them confirmed the claims. The rumors didn't stop Ballerini from spilling the tea on their relationship, though. In an interview with StyleCaster Ballerini spoke on why she and Stokes decided to publicize their romance.
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“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 said. “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.”
In January 2024, the pair celebrated their one-year anniversary and, once again, neither were shy about their love for one another.
In an Instagram post on January 7, Ballerini wrote, "A whole trip around the sun with my bestie. @hichasestokes thanks for making me write love songs????."
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The same day Stokes reciprocated the sentiment by sharing his own carousel of photos capturing the post "One year of lovin you ❤️p.s. told ya I wouldn’t embarrass you ????."
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They've seemingly only gotten closer. In October 2024, Ballerini released a new song "Baggage," which eludes to her taking the next step in her relationship with Stokes.
“Boy, I know the weight and gravity. Of keychains with same keys. But if you want that welcome mat. Then roll it up with me. Clear out a drawer, clear out a shelf. I wouldn’t wanna do it with anybody else,” she sings. “I got baggage, but I’m moving in.”
She confirmed that the pair had moved in together in an interview with People that same month stating, “Oh, we’re unpacked, baby!”