How Did Chase Stokes and Kelsea Ballerini Meet? What They’ve Said About Her Sliding Into His DMs

Just months after filing for divorce from husband Morgan Evans, Kelsea Ballerini shot her shot with Chase Stokes – and it worked.

How Did Kelsea Ballerini and Chase Stokes Meet?

Kelsea and Chase met just like any good millennial couple – on the Internet. Shortly after the two were first linked at the beginning of 2023, Kelsea revealed on the “Call Her Daddy” podcast that she first connected with the actor by sliding in his direct messages (DMs) on Instagram.

“I was just like, ‘I’m not going to get on the apps,’” Kelsea told host Alexandra Cooper in February 2023. “And he shoots [Outer Banks] in Charleston and my manager lives there. He put the bug in my ear. He’s like, ‘You know who’s really cute when you’re ready …’ and I’m like, ‘You’re so right!’ I’ve never seen the show but I knew of him. I followed him, he followed me, and I swan dove right in.”

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That September, Kelsea celebrated Chase’s birthday with an Instagram post where she included a screenshot of their first messages. She started the conversation on December 1, 2022, at 1:07 a.m., writing, “hiii chase stokes,” which was a reference to his @hichasestokes Instagram handle. He responded at 3:17 with, “Hey there how u doin,” and she wrote back, “i’m kels, nice to meet you.”

In October 2023, she expanded on her decision to slide into Chase’s DMs. “I was at a bar in Nashville with some friends from Charleston and they were like, ‘What about Chase?’” Kelsea explained to Nylon. The suggestion led her to follow him on Instagram, which prompted him to follow back.

“I was just like, ‘Why am I waiting for this guy to reach out to me? This is 2022.’” Kelsea recalled, which is when she sent him the DM. Regarding the late hour of the text, Kelsea laughed, “I know. Listen, I was living my best life. I have no shame in that game.”

Meanwhile, Chase shared his side of the story during an October 2024 interview on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. The Outer Banks star revealed that he was filming a movie in Bulgaria when the conversation started.

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“We started talking back and forth and I ended up getting a staph infection,” Chase shared. “So I was in the hospital and she thought I had ghosted her. She’s like, ‘OK, whatever, onto the next.’ And I texted her and I was like, ‘Hey, I’m so sorry, I was in the hospital with a staph infection.’ And she was like, ‘Right …’ I was like, ‘No, I’m serious,’ and I sent her a photo of my arm and it was the size of a baby seal.”

The two kept talking but it wasn’t until Chase went home to his mom’s house for the holidays that he knew he had to pursue things further. “She has music playing and I was like, ‘Wait a minute, is that Kelsea Ballerini playing on my mom’s speaker system?’” Chase remembered. “And I just looked up at the sky and was like, ‘What the f–k?’ And my mom heard me and is like, ‘Is that her?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, that’s the girl I told you I was kinda talking to. It’s weird you’re listening to her in your house.’ And it’s almost been two years now.”

When Did Kelsea Ballerini and Chase Stokes Meet in Person?

Kelsea and Chase met in person for the first time in January 2023. They were both scheduled to be in Los Angeles and made plans for night two of Kelsea’s three-day trip on the West Coast.

“Day one I was playing a birthday party for a friend of mine, but I got there and was like, ‘It’s kind of crazy that we’re finally in the same town and I’m not seeing you today,’” she explained in the Nylon interview. “He was like, ‘Drop your pin.’ He just showed up at this party and, yeah, it was great.”

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The following month, she went on the “Call Her Daddy” podcast again and revealed how she knew Chase was “The One” from that very first night. “I had just gotten done playing and he was like, ‘I’m the valet,’” she said. “He hopped out of his Bronco and he did not say a word to me. And he grabbed my face and he kissed me and he pulled my face away and he said, ‘Thank God you’re real.’”

They then had their first date at a sushi restaurant, which Kelsea revealed in an August 2023 TikTok video. “heres a video i sent to my best friend before my first date with chase,” she captioned the clip, which featured her showing off her date night outfit in the mirror. In the video, she said, “Here’s the look with the boots. We’ve got the hair in a clip because we’re trying to be cool girl. He’s picking me up and we’re going to a sushi place and I’ll call you tomorrow with a full update. I can do this. I can do this. It’s just a date. You just go and you just eat food and you talk about things that you do. OK!”

When Did Kelsea Ballerini and Chase Stokes Go Public?

Chase and Kelsea soft-launched their romance on January 13, 2023, when he posted a photo of them cuddling up at a college football game. Subsequent PDA-filled outings followed and in February 2023 Kelsea confirmed that she was not single.

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The pair made their red carpet debut as a couple at the CMT Awards in April 2023.