Kelsea Ballerini Plays It Coy When Addressing Chase Stokes Romance Rumors

Kelsea Ballerini divorced her husband Morgan Evans in August 2022. "They've been working on their marriage for a very long time," a source told People, adding that they had gone their separate ways in private before and tried couple's therapy before splitting up for good. "They gave it their best go but unfortunately arrived at the decision to formally separate." As the country singer navigates the single life, it's rumored that she's found a potential romantic interest in "Outer Banks" star Chase Stokes — the two have been flirty with each other on social media recently. On January 11, Stokes commented, "Could you please add piping hot sake to the list on slide 8 please with a side of burnt finger tips? [sic]" under Ballerini's Instagram post.

And on January 13, the actor posted a photo dump on his Instagram page, revealing that he and the "hole in the bottle" singer went to the College Football Playoff National Championship together. Ballerini is seen cuddling up to him in the third slide. "go vols," the singer commented, alongside a see-no-evil monkey emoji. The social media post sparked romance rumors, but it seems that Ballerini is trying to keep things as secretive as possible.

After Chase Stokes posted a flirty picture with Kelsea Ballerini on Instagram, people were quick to speculate that the two may be romantically linked. Some fans were sad that the "Outer Banks" actor was moving on from his co-star Madelyn Cline. The two broke up in November 2021 after more than a year of dating. "Madelyn and Chase are no longer together," a source told People at the time. "They were trying to work things out privately but broke up a couple of months ago." Others defended Stokes, saying that if he's happy, his fans should be happy too. However, most just seemed confused. "kelsea and chase was not on my 2023 bingo card," one fan commented. "I'm sorry the Kelsea tag?!?! What," another fan commented.

On January 16, the country singer took to TikTok to address the romance rumors personally. "I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know," she said with a photo collage of what was being said about her relationship with the actor behind her. "Stop reading, stop looking. But what is happening guys? Let's not do this, you know?" She captioned her video, "I'm about to break up with the internet 5 sure," indicating that she was a little fed up with the speculation. She didn't confirm or deny the relationship, though.