Kelsea Ballerini, ‘Outer Banks’ star Chase Stokes spark romance rumors after flirty exchanges

Kelsea Ballerini and “Outer Banks” star Chase Stokes sparked rumors of a new romance after they were pictured in close quarters at the College Football Playoff National Championship game last Monday. 

The 29-year-old country singer, who finalized her divorce from Morgan Evans three months ago, was seen cuddling with the 30-year-old actor in a photo that he included in an Instagram slideshow on Wednesday.

“lil recap.” the “Tell Me Your Secrets” alum wrote in the caption of his post.

Stokes was seen in a red long-sleeved flannel with a black baseball cap as he cozied up next to Ballerini in their box seats at the SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California.

KELSEA BALLERINI DEFENDS HER DIVORCE: ‘JUDGE ME FOR IT, FINE, THAT’S ON YOU’

Country music singer Kelsea Ballerini and “Outer Banks” star Chase Stokes sparked romance rumors after they were pictured cuddling at a football game.
(Getty)

Though the pair were pictured from behind, Stokes tagged the “Miss Me More” hitmaker in the snap.

The Georgia Bulldogs delivered a resounding victory at the game, defeating the TCU Horned Frogs 65-7.

However, Ballerini, who hails from Mascot, Tennessee, gave the University of Tennessee Volunteers football team a shout-out in the comments of Stokes’ post, writing “go vols,” along with an emoji of a monkey covering its eyes. 

Stokes and Ballerini were also seen getting close in a photo shared by Raising Cane’s founder Todd Graves. Graves hosted the pair along with other actors, musicians and influencers in his VIP box at the game.

The two were seen standing together in a group photo as Ballerini held Stokes’ arm and leaned on him from behind.

Stokes shared the photo as part of an Instagram slideshow on Wednesday.
(Chase Stokes/Instagram)

The actor, who played a brief role in “Stranger Things,” commented on a carousel of photos that the three-time Grammy nominee shared to Instagram on Wednesday. He wrote, “Could you please add piping hot sake to the list on slide 8 please with a side of burnt fingertips?”

The eighth slide of Ballerini’s post was a clip of the singer as she stomped in front of mirror and jokingly said, “You just go and you just eat the food and you talk about the things that you do, OK?” 

Representatives for Stokes and Ballerini did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

Last August, Ballerini and Evans announced that they were divorcing after five years of marriage on Instagram. Ballerini and Evans originally met in 2016 while hosting the CMC Music Awards in Australia.

“I’ve always tried to share my life with you in a real and vulnerable way, while also protecting layers of my personal life as they unfold,” Ballerini wrote at the time. “This is now public record so I wanted you to hear from me directly that I am going through a divorce.”

“It’s hard to find the words here … but I feel extremely grateful for the years of marriage to Morgan and hopeful for the next seasons. With very active schedules coming up, please be mindful that we are both fragile, actively healing and showing up the best we can,” she added.

Evans wrote in his own statement: “I am very sad to confirm that after almost 5 years of marriage, Kelsea and I are parting ways. I wish it were otherwise but sadly it is not.”

Ballerini finalized her divorce from Morgan Evans three months ago.
(Photo by Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic)

Shortly after Evans and Ballerini decided to divorce, he wrote the song “Over for You” to help him process his emotions and heartbreak. He ended up releasing the song after playing it for an audience in Australia.

“All my social media, and the conversations I started having with people turned from ‘Great show man’ or ‘Come back to Kentucky soon’ to stuff like, ‘Thank you for writing the song, it’s getting me through my divorce,’ or ‘Thanks for putting into words what I felt when I went through this seven years ago,’ stuff like that,” Evans explained to Fox News Digital.

“When things started happening like that, I knew it was something I had to record properly and share, and that’s what we did. And I’m really proud of the song.”

Ballerini opened up about her relationship ending during a podcast episode of “Tell Me About It With Jade Iovine” last December.

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“For a while, it was kind of like, ‘OK, this is just a new phase of a relationship,’ because relationships go through seasons, right? And it’s not always going to be butterflies and rainbows,” the “Half of My Hometown” singer said.

She continued, “For a long time, I was like, ‘Oh this is just… The glitter wears off. That’s what happens.’ And then you get into a phase where you wait for it to come back. And then sometimes it doesn’t.”

“At the end of the day, it is such a disservice and a dishonoring of yourself if you know something is not right and you stay,” Ballerini added. “[Shame] is the one thing that I just refuse to feel… Judge me for it, fine, that’s on you.”

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Stokes dated his “Outer Banks” co-star Madelyn Cline, 25, from April 2020 to November 2021 after the two met on the Netflix show’s set in 2019.

Fox News Digital’s Lauryn Overhultz contributed to this report.