Chase Stokes Reveals the Relationship 'Rule' That Keeps Him and Kelsea Ballerini Close (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

Chase Stokes and Kelsea Ballerini in Austin in 2023.Photo:Jeff Kravitz/GettyChase Stokesis lifting the curtain on how he and girlfriendKelsea Ballerinikeep their relationship strong.InPEOPLE’s September digital cover story, theOuter Banksactor, 31, reveals that he and the country star, also 31, have a rule of “never going more than three weeks” without seeing each other.“We don’t BS each other. If we need to make the effort to show up when one’s across the country, we do it,” he says. “The amount of effort that we put into our careers, we should be doubling that in our personal lives. It’s about really putting in effort, and it’s not always easy and it’s not always convenient, but having a big, beautiful life didn’t come from convenience or ease.“Though they typically split their time between Nashville, where Ballerini has a house, and South Carolina, where Stokes shootsOuter Banks, the two have temporarily set up a home base in Los Angeles. Ballerini is currentlycoaching her first season ofThe Voicein Universal City, and Stokes has work commitments around Hollywood.“That was kind of our thing: Let’s just set up shop versus being on planes, for the boys,” he says, talking about his dog Milo and Ballerini’s dog Dibs (who, Ballerini recently announced, has aninoperable heart cancer). “We wanted to set up a sense of real life out here for a little while.“After work, their evenings together typically involve cooking — Stokes’s go-to is skirt steak with a homemade chimichurri – and bingeingLost. If they have to be apart for work, there’s “noLostif we’re not together,” Stokes says. “We have a very hard line in the sand. We tried a couple nights ago to do the one, two, three, go and hit play from afar, and we just could not figure it out. So we ended up watchingGone Girl.“Chase Stokes and Kelsea Ballerini in August 2023.Victor Boyko/Variety via Getty ImagesThe couple is savoring their down time as they gear up for a busy fall. Stokes next stars in the Netflix filmUglies, based on the bestselling dystopian 2005 novel, premiering Sept. 13, and Season 4 ofOuter Bankspremieres on Oct. 10. He’ll also play a tattoo artist with a fiery temper inThe Notebookdirector Nick Cassavetes’upcoming romanceMarked Menand an army captain in the thrillerValiant Onein early 2025.“There really isn’t anything off-limits,” says Stokes, who also has plans to produce. “I’m making sure that I’m really attacking my career with no restraints.”As for Ballerini, she’s readying to release a new album,Patterns, on Oct. 25, in addition to coachingThe Voice.Stokes calls the album “unbelievable."“It is a master class in songwriting,” he says. “To watch her on the back porch writing and see what it is now, it is the most fascinating thing. It’s just further proof that Kelsea Ballerini is a force of nature in music.”With their careers taking them in different directions, that means Ballerini will sometimes “come and hang out on set with me, or I’ll go into the studio with her,” Stokes says. “Or it’s just sitting in the living room and talking through dreams and aspirations and having a safe space with a partner that believes in you. We really are very fortunate that we have big careers and a big world around us, but we like to keep it very simple and very small.“Chase Stokes and Kelsea Ballerini in April 2023.Bruce Glikas/GettyStokes first met Ballerini after she slid into his DMs in December 2022, four months aftershe filed for divorce from musician Morgan Evans. At the time, Stokes was shooting a movie out of the country.“We spent a lot of time texting back and forth, but I think there was definitely an immediate moment of, ‘I really like this girl, and I would like to get to know her better,’” he says. “My mom got remarried later in life, and she always said that as you get older, you understand your values and the things that you like and don’t like.“When they first introduced their dogs, Stokes admits Ballerini “was a little more nervous than I was.““She was like, ‘Are they going to click? Dibs is an only child, and he’s got only child syndrome,'” he recalls. “It took maybe two days for them to really start to coexist. She sent me a video this morning and Dibs and Milo are bobbing and weaving in the pool trying to find the ball that sunk. So they’ve adapted.“As they look to the future, Stokes says, “It’s really about building a life together.”“In any relationship, you just have to learn to grow together and embrace change,” he says. “It’s understanding that even at 31, almost 32, I’m still growing. I’m still evolving, and so is she. It’s learning to lead with love and a want to grow together.”

Chase Stokes and Kelsea Ballerini in Austin in 2023.Photo:Jeff Kravitz/Getty

Jeff Kravitz/Getty

Chase Stokesis lifting the curtain on how he and girlfriendKelsea Ballerinikeep their relationship strong.InPEOPLE’s September digital cover story, theOuter Banksactor, 31, reveals that he and the country star, also 31, have a rule of “never going more than three weeks” without seeing each other.“We don’t BS each other. If we need to make the effort to show up when one’s across the country, we do it,” he says. “The amount of effort that we put into our careers, we should be doubling that in our personal lives. It’s about really putting in effort, and it’s not always easy and it’s not always convenient, but having a big, beautiful life didn’t come from convenience or ease.“Though they typically split their time between Nashville, where Ballerini has a house, and South Carolina, where Stokes shootsOuter Banks, the two have temporarily set up a home base in Los Angeles. Ballerini is currentlycoaching her first season ofThe Voicein Universal City, and Stokes has work commitments around Hollywood.“That was kind of our thing: Let’s just set up shop versus being on planes, for the boys,” he says, talking about his dog Milo and Ballerini’s dog Dibs (who, Ballerini recently announced, has aninoperable heart cancer). “We wanted to set up a sense of real life out here for a little while.“After work, their evenings together typically involve cooking — Stokes’s go-to is skirt steak with a homemade chimichurri – and bingeingLost. If they have to be apart for work, there’s “noLostif we’re not together,” Stokes says. “We have a very hard line in the sand. We tried a couple nights ago to do the one, two, three, go and hit play from afar, and we just could not figure it out. So we ended up watchingGone Girl.“Chase Stokes and Kelsea Ballerini in August 2023.Victor Boyko/Variety via Getty ImagesThe couple is savoring their down time as they gear up for a busy fall. Stokes next stars in the Netflix filmUglies, based on the bestselling dystopian 2005 novel, premiering Sept. 13, and Season 4 ofOuter Bankspremieres on Oct. 10. He’ll also play a tattoo artist with a fiery temper inThe Notebookdirector Nick Cassavetes’upcoming romanceMarked Menand an army captain in the thrillerValiant Onein early 2025.“There really isn’t anything off-limits,” says Stokes, who also has plans to produce. “I’m making sure that I’m really attacking my career with no restraints.”As for Ballerini, she’s readying to release a new album,Patterns, on Oct. 25, in addition to coachingThe Voice.Stokes calls the album “unbelievable."“It is a master class in songwriting,” he says. “To watch her on the back porch writing and see what it is now, it is the most fascinating thing. It’s just further proof that Kelsea Ballerini is a force of nature in music.”With their careers taking them in different directions, that means Ballerini will sometimes “come and hang out on set with me, or I’ll go into the studio with her,” Stokes says. “Or it’s just sitting in the living room and talking through dreams and aspirations and having a safe space with a partner that believes in you. We really are very fortunate that we have big careers and a big world around us, but we like to keep it very simple and very small.“Chase Stokes and Kelsea Ballerini in April 2023.Bruce Glikas/GettyStokes first met Ballerini after she slid into his DMs in December 2022, four months aftershe filed for divorce from musician Morgan Evans. At the time, Stokes was shooting a movie out of the country.“We spent a lot of time texting back and forth, but I think there was definitely an immediate moment of, ‘I really like this girl, and I would like to get to know her better,’” he says. “My mom got remarried later in life, and she always said that as you get older, you understand your values and the things that you like and don’t like.“When they first introduced their dogs, Stokes admits Ballerini “was a little more nervous than I was.““She was like, ‘Are they going to click? Dibs is an only child, and he’s got only child syndrome,'” he recalls. “It took maybe two days for them to really start to coexist. She sent me a video this morning and Dibs and Milo are bobbing and weaving in the pool trying to find the ball that sunk. So they’ve adapted.“As they look to the future, Stokes says, “It’s really about building a life together.”“In any relationship, you just have to learn to grow together and embrace change,” he says. “It’s understanding that even at 31, almost 32, I’m still growing. I’m still evolving, and so is she. It’s learning to lead with love and a want to grow together.”

Chase Stokesis lifting the curtain on how he and girlfriendKelsea Ballerinikeep their relationship strong.

InPEOPLE’s September digital cover story, theOuter Banksactor, 31, reveals that he and the country star, also 31, have a rule of “never going more than three weeks” without seeing each other.

“We don’t BS each other. If we need to make the effort to show up when one’s across the country, we do it,” he says. “The amount of effort that we put into our careers, we should be doubling that in our personal lives. It’s about really putting in effort, and it’s not always easy and it’s not always convenient, but having a big, beautiful life didn’t come from convenience or ease.”

Though they typically split their time between Nashville, where Ballerini has a house, and South Carolina, where Stokes shootsOuter Banks, the two have temporarily set up a home base in Los Angeles. Ballerini is currentlycoaching her first season ofThe Voicein Universal City, and Stokes has work commitments around Hollywood.

“That was kind of our thing: Let’s just set up shop versus being on planes, for the boys,” he says, talking about his dog Milo and Ballerini’s dog Dibs (who, Ballerini recently announced, has aninoperable heart cancer). “We wanted to set up a sense of real life out here for a little while.”

After work, their evenings together typically involve cooking — Stokes’s go-to is skirt steak with a homemade chimichurri – and bingeingLost. If they have to be apart for work, there’s “noLostif we’re not together,” Stokes says. “We have a very hard line in the sand. We tried a couple nights ago to do the one, two, three, go and hit play from afar, and we just could not figure it out. So we ended up watchingGone Girl.”

Chase Stokes and Kelsea Ballerini in August 2023.Victor Boyko/Variety via Getty Images

Victor Boyko/Variety via Getty Images

The couple is savoring their down time as they gear up for a busy fall. Stokes next stars in the Netflix filmUglies, based on the bestselling dystopian 2005 novel, premiering Sept. 13, and Season 4 ofOuter Bankspremieres on Oct. 10. He’ll also play a tattoo artist with a fiery temper inThe Notebookdirector Nick Cassavetes’upcoming romanceMarked Menand an army captain in the thrillerValiant Onein early 2025.

“There really isn’t anything off-limits,” says Stokes, who also has plans to produce. “I’m making sure that I’m really attacking my career with no restraints.”

As for Ballerini, she’s readying to release a new album,Patterns, on Oct. 25, in addition to coachingThe Voice.Stokes calls the album “unbelievable.”

“It is a master class in songwriting,” he says. “To watch her on the back porch writing and see what it is now, it is the most fascinating thing. It’s just further proof that Kelsea Ballerini is a force of nature in music.”

With their careers taking them in different directions, that means Ballerini will sometimes “come and hang out on set with me, or I’ll go into the studio with her,” Stokes says. “Or it’s just sitting in the living room and talking through dreams and aspirations and having a safe space with a partner that believes in you. We really are very fortunate that we have big careers and a big world around us, but we like to keep it very simple and very small.”

Chase Stokes and Kelsea Ballerini in April 2023.Bruce Glikas/Getty

Bruce Glikas/Getty

Stokes first met Ballerini after she slid into his DMs in December 2022, four months aftershe filed for divorce from musician Morgan Evans. At the time, Stokes was shooting a movie out of the country.

“We spent a lot of time texting back and forth, but I think there was definitely an immediate moment of, ‘I really like this girl, and I would like to get to know her better,’” he says. “My mom got remarried later in life, and she always said that as you get older, you understand your values and the things that you like and don’t like.”

When they first introduced their dogs, Stokes admits Ballerini “was a little more nervous than I was.”

“She was like, ‘Are they going to click? Dibs is an only child, and he’s got only child syndrome,'” he recalls. “It took maybe two days for them to really start to coexist. She sent me a video this morning and Dibs and Milo are bobbing and weaving in the pool trying to find the ball that sunk. So they’ve adapted.”

As they look to the future, Stokes says, “It’s really about building a life together.”

“In any relationship, you just have to learn to grow together and embrace change,” he says. “It’s understanding that even at 31, almost 32, I’m still growing. I’m still evolving, and so is she. It’s learning to lead with love and a want to grow together.”

source: people.com