Despite recently announcing their reconciliation, country star Kelsea Ballerini and Netflix actor Chase Stokes have broken up.
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Sources close to the couple told PEOPLE that they are “not dating right now.”
“They still love each other,” one insider explained. “Which is why they’ve kept trying to make it work. But their lives are in very different places right now. Figuring out where to live and how to truly merge their lives has been hard lately. It’s been something they’ve gone back and forth on.”
They further pointed out, “They just want to be happy, though. They’ve been trying to figure out a situation where they are both happy together, but that doesn’t seem possible at the moment.”
Meanwhile, another insider said that Ballerini has been “so supportive” of Stokes throughout the relationship. However, the support has allegedly not been reciprocated. “Especially as her career has continued to grow,” they noted. “It feels like there’s insecurity there on his end.”
The country star and the Netflix actor were romantically involved in early 2023. They stepped out as a couple at the 2023 CMT Awards that April.
The Couple First Broke up in September 2025
After more than two and a half years together, Ballerini and Stokes first called it quits in September 2025.
“They’re two adults who gave it their all and tried to do everything they could to make it work,” a source said at the time. “But ultimately couldn’t. It happens.”
However, not long after the split, Ballerini visited Stokes on the Outer Banks set in Europe. Although they seemed to have rekindled the relationship, Stokes later posted a cryptic message on social media in November.
On New Year’s Eve, Ballerini confirmed that she and Stokes were back together and seemed to be going strong.
“Messy year for the heart,” she said about 2025. “Messy year for the outside coming in, messy year for the way it became an out of our hands portrayal of it.”
Ballerini then wrote, “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.”