Photo: Todd Owyoung/NBC
Kelsea Ballerini has “never told this story,” she said as she revealed her first encounter with her boyfriend, Chase Stokes, during an interview on The Tonight Show on Wednesday (October 30).
Ballerini and Stokes began talking when she slid into his DMs on Instagram in December 2022. They first sparked dating rumors in January 2023, when Stokes posted a photo sitting closely with Ballerini at the College Football Playoff National Championship (Ballerini recently reminisced on that moment in an interview with Entertainment Tonight, where she shared the “hottest part” about dating the Outer Banks star). In February 2023, Ballerini confirmed the new relationship in an interview. Earlier this year, Ballerini thanked Stokes in a one-year anniversary post “for making me write love songs. 🤍”
However, there was one moment she first encountered Stokes in person before sliding into his DMs.
“I was kinda of new-ish-ly single, and I have a lot of friends that live in Charleston, and they were like, ‘hey, do you Chase Stokes?’ And I was like, ‘I know of him.’ But let me tell you why I’ve never told this story,” Ballerini said when she spoke with host Jimmy Fallon. “I think it was 2021. I was on a flight. It was, like, a 5 a.m.’er. Ungodly hour. And I was getting ready to fall asleep, and there was this young girl who came up to the person sitting behind me and was just, like, freaking out, fangirling. And I heard him [Stokes] be so lovely to her, and give her so much time and attention and intention at, like, 5 a.m. I turned around and I just looked through the hole in my seat, and it was Chase. And I hadn’t seen the show, but I don’t live under a rock, so I knew him.”
Ballerini acknowledged “we were obviously in different phases of life” at that time, and she didn’t officially meet her now-boyfriend that day. But she “just tucked that away as ‘oh, my gosh, what a good thing to witness,’” she recalled. Ballerini said it was a moment that showed her “faith in people. It was just a beautiful thing to see. He’s a good, good man, and I knew that just from that interaction. …It’s funny how the universe works. And so, I just slid into the DMs, and then we talked and then we met.”
The Patterns singer-songwriter and Outer Banks actor have since shared heartfelt glimpses into their romance on their social media accounts, including supporting one another in their respective careers. Stokes, for example, recently gushed over Ballerini’s sold out album release show at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night (October 29) in New York City. the powerful performance celebrated the release of Ballerini’s fifth studio record, Patterns, which arrived on October 25.
Ballerini went on to clarify a rumor on The Tonight Show.
“I wanna clear this up because I don’t wanna sound like an unsupportive girlfriend, right? …When we got together, everyone was coming up to him, and they’re like, ‘John B! John B!’ And so, he was like, ‘I want to start coming to shows.’ I’m like, ‘I’m gonna start watching Outer Banks.’ and he was like, ‘you know what? I kind of love that you’re just getting to know me here in this way, human-to-human.’ So, I’ve been to set. …I’m so happy.”
Watch Ballerini’s interview here, and watch her perform the title track of her new album below.