Kelsea Ballerini and Chase Stokes break up after nearly 3 years of dating

Chase Stokes and Kelsea Ballerini have reportedly split after nearly three years of dating, and just two days after he wrote her a loving birthday post.

The breakup wasn’t due to a lack of effort from both the “Outer Banks” star and the country singer, according to People.

“They’re two adults who gave it their all and tried to do everything they could to make it work, but ultimately couldn’t,” sources close to the couple told the outlet. “It happens.”

The two appeared to still be a couple on Friday, when Stokes wished Ballerini a happy 32nd birthday on Instagram.

“Although you keep saying you’re not excited for 32, id say I’m lookin forward to more of this,” he wrote alongside happy pics of the two spending time together.

“Happy birthday my love ❤️,” he added.

Ballerini’s last Instagram post was on Thursday, when she posted a carousel of pics and memes without Stokes in them.

“The last week of being thirty one was fun,” she wrote.

She joked about having a mental breakdown, posting a meme of a woman lying back and holding her phone while wearing sunglasses. The text reads, “Me texting my friend after having a mental breakdown: BUT HOW R U HOW HAVE U BEEN HOW ARE THINGS WITH YOU?”

Both Ballerini’s rep and Stokes’ rep didn’t immediately respond to Page Six’s request for comment.

The two first sparked dating rumors in January 2023, when Stokes posted a photo of the two on Instagram looking close while watching the National College Football Championship together.

A month later, he posted a pic of her kissing him.

Since then they’ve attended multiple red carpet events together, and he supported her in November 2024, when they showed PDA at the 2024 CMA Awards.

In April, Ballerini talked about loving going to therapy with Stokes and working on their relationship.

“I look at love really practically now, and somehow it’s my favorite version of it,” she told People. “I didn’t really have an example of what a solid relationship looked like in my developmental years. I learned the hard way.”

“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.’”

She also gushed about the two bringing out the best in each other.

“You become a mirror for each other,” she told the outlet. “He helps me see the best things about myself and vice versa.”

“We also show each other the things that we want to get better at,” she added.