Kelsea Ballerini thought her relationship with Chase Stokes was one of a kind before their recent breakups.
“Kelsea hadn’t found someone that was as compatible with her until Chase. He opened up to her, and they had a relationship with more intimacy than she has ever had,” a source exclusively tells Us Weekly. “She felt he was the most committed to her out of all the guys she has ever been with. That’s why they worked so well, and that’s why she believed they would work long-term.”
According to the insider, Ballerini, 32, thought Stokes, 33, could be “The One.”
“She never loved someone like this before,” the source adds. “He was the type of guy who would not take his eyes off her. They were really in love.”
Ballerini and Stokes started dating in January 2023, marking the Grammy nominee’s first relationship after her divorce from Morgan Evans.
“He’s the most emotionally intelligent man I’ve ever met in my life,” Ballerini said of Stokes on a November 2023 episode of the “Call Her Daddy” podcast. “I keep telling him he’s a man written by a woman.”
At the time, Ballerini further explained how her intimacy with Stokes changed her thoughts about what she previously experienced in relationships.
“My experience with it was very performative and for the other person,” Ballerini recalled. “It don’t be like that anymore. I didn’t understand how [sex] could be a real connector in a relationship. I always thought it was just something that you did. Now, I realize it’s a connector for people.”
After two years and countless red carpet appearances together, Us confirmed in September that Ballerini and Stokes broke up.
“It was a hard split,” a second source told Us at the time. “They had been arguing a lot recently, and their communication wasn’t great in the last month. They were both traveling so much and trying to juggle everything, and the arguments piled up.”
Chase Stokes was in awe of Kelsea Ballerini just three days before their split made headlines. “The last week of being thirty-one was fun,” Ballerini, now 32, wrote via her Instagram on Thursday, September 11, sharing a handful of recent photos. Stokes, 32, was the first in Ballerini’s comments section, subtly responding with a “🥵” […]
Within weeks, Ballerini and Stokes agreed to give their relationship a second chance after they were spotted together in Scotland and Croatia. A third source later told Us on Thursday, November 20, that the pair broke up again after their relationship got “so rocky and toxic.”
Stokes has since seemingly confirmed that they are not in touch.
“I’m blocked, I did nothing wrong. Sorry. I tried,” the Outer Banks actor wrote via Instagram Story on Thursday. “I’m sorry for those who believed in us. It is what it is. Onwards and upwards.”
It goes down in the DMs! Kelsea Ballerini is finally opening up about her relationship with Chase Stokes — and revealing how it all began. The Grammy nominee, 29, attempted to play coy about her status during the Wednesday, February 22, episode of “Call Her Daddy” when asked whether she’s single after her divorce from […]
Ballerini, for her part, has not publicly addressed her breakup, remaining focused on her Mount Pleasant EP release and recent performance at the 2025 CMA Awards.
“To be able to tell the story of the fear of a body clock, how to balance it all and how it affects your mental health on country music’s biggest stage is one of my proudest moments as a songwriter,” she wrote via Instagram on Friday, November 21, sharing images from her “I Sit in Parks” performance. “I’m deeply grateful to @cma for this moment and @ptracy for making this vision a reality.”
Ballerini and Stokes’ reps were unable to be reached for comment.
