Kelsea Ballerini explained why attending therapy sessions with her boyfriend, “Outer Banks” star Chase Stokes, is the “sexiest thing ever.”
The 31-year-old country singer and the 32-year-old actor began dating in the wake of Ballerini’s painful split from her ex-husband Morgan Evans, whom she divorced in November 2022.
During a recent interview with People magazine, the five-time Grammy nominee, whose own parents Ed Ballerini and Carla Denham divorced when she was 12, opened up about how her perspective on relationships has changed since she fell in love with Stokes.
“I look at love really practically now, and somehow it’s my favorite version of it. I didn’t really have an example of what a solid relationship looked like in my developmental years. I learned the hard way,” Ballerini said.
“Now my version of love that I’ve found, it’s steady and it’s human, and we work on it,” she continued. “That, to me, honestly, is the sexiest thing, like, ‘Hey, you want to go to therapy? Let’s go to therapy.’”
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“Being so down with your person to put in the work for each other and individually, it’s a very new kind of love for me.”
In August 2022, Ballerini and fellow country star Evans announced that they were divorcing after almost five years of marriage. The former couple met in 2016 while hosting the CMC Music Awards in Australia.
While going through the divorce, Ballerini wrote a six-song EP titled “Rolling Up the Welcome Mat.” The singer released the emotional album as a surprise drop on Valentine’s Day in 2023.
Ballerini’s mother Carla noted that writing the songs based on her own experience with the ongoing divorce was “cathartic” for the singer but emphasized that the music was about “real pain.”
“As she was sending me those songs when she would write them… I would just bawl,” Carla explained during an appearance on the “Got It From My Momma” podcast. “The songs were hard enough to listen to, but I also know that it’s cathartic for her. That’s her way of processing hurt and pain. It’s to go write it – then it’s out of her.”
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“The Voice” coach also filmed accompanying music videos for each song.
“I was thinking, ‘God, how are you gonna do that?’ I couldn’t do that. There’s no way,” Carla said. “If she had hired an actress to do that, it still would’ve hurt for me to watch it, but to watch her acting out what she really felt and experienced was just… it’s that blend between I’m in total awe when she showed me the piece, and I just wanted to take her and put her in a plastic bubble and let’s just go away somewhere away from the world.”
Evans released his own song based on his experience with the divorce. He wrote “Over for You” to help him process his emotions and heartbreak and released the single after performing for an audience in Australia.
During a February 2023 appearance on the “Call Her Daddy” podcast, Ballerini opened up about the marital struggles that led to her divorce from Evans.
Ballerini shared that “there were separations. There was years of couples therapy. There was like, many a night of sleeping on the couch. I don’t think it was the first night, but it was a night where I was like, ‘This is not what I want.'”
The country star claimed that the marriage “took work for a long time,” and that there was a “sense of disconnection” between them.
“I was getting resentful because any time we did see each other, I felt like I was carrying that load, and I was tired,” she said. “I was just tired of showing up in that way all the time and not feeling like I was seen or matched.”
Ballerini also criticized the Australian singer-songwriter for lyrics that he included in “Over For You,” which she said indicated that he was blindsided by their split. She also said her lawyer and manager told her Evans wanted to split the proceeds from the sale of their Nashville home, which she claimed that “I bought and he contributed [to], but not equal.”
“They’re like, ‘He wants half the house; that’s how they’re reading the prenup,’ or there’s messy alimony language,” she recalled.
“He’s putting out a song about being blindsided,” Ballerini added. “He’s taking half the house that he didn’t pay for.”
“And I was like, ‘Give him the house. I want out,'” she said.
Evans later posted a statement of his own to share his side of the story.
“It’s really sad for me to see this person, who I spent so much of my life with, and loved with all my heart, saying things that aren’t reality and that leave out what really happened,” he wrote.
“She knows I’m not the type of guy to speak on those things publicly,” Evans added.
The country singer continued, “If this is what she needs to heal, I hope it helps.”
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Evans also sent a message to his followers, saying, “Please don’t be mean. Don’t be mean to Kelsea, don’t be mean to each other.
“Life’s too short,” he concluded.
During a performance at the Grand Ole Opry in November 2022, Ballerini revealed that she and Evans had sold the house and finalized their divorce.
The “Cowboys Cry Too” singer began dating Stokes in December 2022. In an October 2023 interview with Neon, Ballerini revealed that she first connected with the actor when she sent him a flirtatious direct message on Instagram.
The two began talking and sparks flew when they met each other in person at a birthday party for one of Ballerini’s friends in Los Angeles.
“I really did [know] as soon as I met him,” she told the outlet. “And maybe that sounds like I’ve learned zero things, but I’ve always been a heart-first girl.”
“And the truth is it’s never led me astray,” Ballerini added. “I’ve always been where I needed to be while I needed to be there.”
“We are both very much so golden-retriever energy most of the time, but we both have a little bite in us, and we’re both incredibly driven,” the singer said of Stokes. “He is the first person I’ve been in a relationship with that I feel like is not my complete opposite.“
During her interview with People, Ballerini explained that she gave Stokes a copy of “Rolling Up the Welcome Mat” when they first started dating.
“I just said, ‘Hey, I’ve gone through this thing, and you’re going to ask about it. So here’s a good entry point,’” Ballerini said.
She told the outlet that she and Stokes relate to each other because they are both artists, and they support each other in their respective careers.
“Being with another creative, we both understand each other’s process,” Ballerini says. “I would never ask him to not take a role that he feels inspired by, and he would never ask me to round the edges of my songwriting. That’s one of the things I appreciate the most about him.”
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“You become a mirror for each other. He helps me see the best things about myself and vice versa,” she added. “We also show each other the things that we want to get better at.”
“Chase and I were like, ‘What are our goals for the year?’ And we said we want to be hotter, funnier and more ambitious… the best version of ourselves.”
Ballerini is currently on her arena tour in support of her latest album “Patterns” and Stokes has joined his girlfriend at several stops while she is on the road.
Last October, Stokes gushed over Ballerini after she performed a sold-out concert at New York City’s Madison Square Garden.
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“To make a record your way, with your people, and sell out the most famous arena in the world, made my heart explode out of my chest, and a little water out of my eyeballs,” he wrote in a post on Instagram.
“I’m so proud to be in your corner, to be on your team, and be your partner on this journey of life. I love you, I’m so proud of you,” the actor added.
During an interview with InStyle that month, Stokes explained why it was important to both him and Ballerini that they be open about their love for each other.
The pair made their first major public appearance together on the CMT Awards red carpet in April 2023. Since then, they have frequently attended public events together and often feature each other on their social media platforms.
“Look, it’s a delicate dance for everybody, balancing what’s public and private. For me, it can be a bizarre thing to watch people hide their relationships,” he said.
“Because it’s natural, you get so excited to talk about your person who wins something, you want to celebrate all the moments within life,” Stokes continued. “So I think for us, it was kind of a no-brainer to be a little open. We just really value real life. So I think being in a relationship, but hiding it from the world, would feel very false to both of us.”
