The little things! Chase Stokes proved he and Kelsea Ballerini are still going strong by sharing a rare photo of the twosome getting cozy.
The Outer Banks star, 31, took to social media on Wednesday, May 10, to recap his life as of late with a series of images — one of which featured him and the 29-year-old country crooner packing on the PDA.
“It’s Tuesday and the Stanley Cup came to my house. wtf,” Stokes captioned photos of himself looking at the hockey trophy, eating a hamburger, going to the gym and spending time with his girlfriend. In the sweet snap with Ballerini the Stranger Things alum could be seen nuzzling into the “Heartfirst” singer’s neck while she smiled for the camera. (The carousel also included a picture of Ballerini’s dog, Dibs.)
The Tennessee native, for her part, quickly took to her beau’s comments section to respond to the photo dump, writing, “Find somebody that looks at you like chase looks at the stanley cup,” before adding, “PS- you cute.”
Ballerini previously uploaded her own tribute to Stokes via Instagram last month. The “Mountain With a View” singer shared pics and clips from her time at the CMTs. “In my heartfirst era,” Ballerini captioned the post, which also featured the couple making their red carpet debut at the ceremony.
The “Blindsided” songstress and Maryland native were first linked in November 2022 after attending the College Football Championship together in Los Angeles. Ballerini later confirmed the pair’s romance during a February episode of the “Call Her Daddy” podcast. At the time, the Grammy nominee gave a glimpse into the pair’s first interaction.
“His [Instagram] handle is ‘hichasestokes’ and I just said, ‘Hi Chase Stokes,’” she shared with host Alex Cooper. “I have my s–t together and for me to share that with anyone is a gift. I want to be with someone that feels the same way about their life. … I’m a relationship bitch.”
Prior to her romance with Stokes, Ballerini was married to fellow country star Morgan Evans for nearly five years before calling it quits in August 2022. Following their split, a source exclusively told Us Weekly that the exes faced “many issues” in their relationship before ultimately pulling the plug.
“Kelsea was very young and naive when she met Morgan, they clicked right away, but their relationship was always an emotional roller-coaster,” the insider revealed in March, noting that their “intense romance” went through periods of “friction, tension and toxicity.”
According to the source, Ballerini was “not ready” to expand her family with the “ Over For You” singer, 37. “Morgan [had] been ready for a long time,” the insider added. “They had been having issues, relating to each other and trouble being kind to each other, but the disagreement over kids was the nail in the coffin.”
The former couple both went on to release music about their messy breakup, with Evans dropping his single “Over For You” in October 2022 and Ballerini debuting her EP, Rolling Up the Welcome Mat, on Valentine’s Day.
“I felt really used in that moment. … His healing journey is his healing journey and I respect that, but publicly exploiting it feels a little nasty to me — before it’s final,” she explained on “Call Her Daddy” of the “Kiss Somebody” singer’s decision to drop the track while they were “still going through the legalities of getting divorced.”
The “If You Go Down” songstress added that she waited until the divorce was finalized in September 2022 to release her own music, saying, “Now, we’re, like, months passed it. I’ve taken the time to, like, actually sit in my feelings and, like, go through that grieving process and take ownership of what I brought to the table too.”
Stokes, for his part, previously made headlines for his own high-profile romance with Outer Banks costar Madelyn Cline. The duo parted ways in November 2021 after more than a year of dating and have often praised their approach to working amicably together post-split.
“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 in February. “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.
