Country singer Kelsea Ballerini and “Outer Banks” star Chase Stokes get back together after 'messy year'
- - Country singer Kelsea Ballerini and “Outer Banks” star Chase Stokes get back together after 'messy year'
Emlyn TravisJanuary 2, 2026 at 8:46 PM
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Gilbert Flores/Penske Media via Getty
Chase Stokes and Kelsea Ballerini at the 2025 Academy of Country Music Awards
Chase Stokes and Kelsea Ballerini are calling it quits on calling it quits.
The Outer Banks star and the country singer-songwriter revealed on social media that they've gotten back together after dating for three years and then confirming their breakup in September.
Stokes, 33, shared a heartfelt Instagram post Thursday looking back on 2025 and featuring several photos of him and Ballerini canoodling and looking cozy. "Something I've learned this year: don't take advantage of the most beautiful things that in 33 years of life are fleeting," he wrote.
"Take accountability, learn from mistakes," he added. "Lean into love and say it often. 2026 my year of growth, my year of truth. Starting here, starting now. Happy new years."
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Ballerini, 32, also addressed their romantic ups-and-downs — as well as the stress of living life in the spotlight — in her own Instagram Story post.
Over a photo of her and Stokes embracing, she wrote, "messy year for the heart, messy year for the outside coming in, messy year for the way it became an out of our hands portrayal of it. but what i'll say, and all i really care to share indefinitely with my personal life anymore, is that i really love love. i believe in it, i believe in him, and i believe in breaking patterns. now go kiss your person and stop speculating."
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Ballerini and Stokes first sparked dating rumors in January 2023, when he posted a snapshot of them sitting close to each other at a Georgia vs. TCU game held at Los Angeles' SoFi Stadium. The couple went public with their romance that April by walking down the red carpet together at the CMA Awards.
In September, a source close to Ballerini told PEOPLE that she and Stokes had gone their separate ways after nearly three years of dating. "They're two adults who gave it their all and tried to do everything they could to make it work, but ultimately couldn't," the source said. "It happens."
The pair were later spotted holding hands at a restaurant in Croatia. "After they got up, they walked together hand in hand," an onlooker told PEOPLE. "They looked very cute."
However, there appeared to be a bit of trouble in paradise when Stokes posted multiple Instagram Story posts that suggested he and Ballerini really were over. "Don't believe the media. I'm blocked, I did nothing wrong. Sorry… I tried," he wrote in one post. In another, he added, "I'm sorry for those who believed in us."
Last month, Ballerini wrote on Instagram that she was "trying to make my personal life personal" for the foreseeable future.
“Unless it comes from me, it's not from me," she explained. "And that is really important in protecting my peace right now."
on Entertainment Weekly
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
