Chase Stokes couldn’t let girlfriend Kelsea Ballerini’s 32nd birthday pass without plenty of fanfare.
“Although you keep saying you’re not excited for 32, I’d say I’m lookin’ forward to more of this,” Stokes, 32, captioned an Instagram carousel on Friday, September 12. “Happy birthday, my love ❤️.”
Stokes updated a handful of photos featuring the pair together, including one image where they sat courtside at a New York Knicks game next to Ben Stiller, who was half-cropped from the post.
“Sorry @benstiller,” Stokes joked in his Instagram comments section of the unfortunate photo crop.
Stokes has been dating Ballerini since early 2023 after the two connected via the social media platform.
“I slid into his DMs,” Ballerini revealed on the “Call Her Daddy” podcast in February 2023. “I just swan dove right on in. His handle is ‘hichasestokes’ and I just said, ‘Hi Chase Stokes.’”
Months later, the country singer returned to Alex Cooper’s podcast to dish about their ongoing relationship.
“He’s the most emotionally intelligent man I’ve ever met in my life,” she said on a November 2023 episode of the podcast. “I keep telling him he’s a man written by a woman.”
According to Ballerini, her attitude toward sex changed when she started dating Stokes.
“My experience with it was very performative and for the other person,” Ballerini, who was previously married to Morgan Evans for five years until their 2022 divorce, added at the time. “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.”
Ballerini and Stokes now often share updates on their relationships via social media or on the red carpet.
Kelsea Ballerini and Chase Stokes quickly became a fan-favorite couple after confirming their relationship status. The country singer and the Outer Banks star were first linked in January 2023 after they were spotted together at the College Football Playoff National Championship in Los Angeles. Thank You! You have successfully subscribed. Subscribe to newsletters Please enter […]
“We had one red carpet that looked like we fully planned it,” Stokes quipped to Us Weekly exclusively in March 2024, seemingly referring to their all-red ensembles at the 2023 MTV Video Music Awards. “It was entirely unplanned. We aren’t really on the ‘let’s match’ train. We just try to co-exist with our looks, but never intentionally match. We try to favor each other for sure.”
Outside of their stylish endeavors, Ballerini recently gave Us a glimpse of how their romance has adapted after two years of dating.
“You do [challenge each other], or it’s boring and then you’re stagnant and then that’s not going to work out,” she exclusively told Us in July. “I think we’re two and a half years in, so [the relationship] looks a lot different now than it did in the beginning. I don’t know, I think we’re really similar — and in the ways that we’re different, that’s where we challenge each other. … I just want all the good things in the world for him.”
