Kelsea had “never seen” Outer Banks before they met.
As the face of one of Netflix’s hottest teen dramas, there’s a lot of interest in who Chase Stokes is dating now and if he has a girlfriend after his breakup with Madelyn Cline.
Stokes—who is best known for playing John Booker Routledge in Netflix’s Outer Banks—dated Cline (who plays John B.’s love interest, Sarah Cameron) from 2020 to 2021. Since then, he’s been linked to singers like Kelsea Ballerini and model Izabella Metz. In an interview with Esquire in February 2023, Stokes opened about comparisons between him and John B. “I would say nine times out of ten, when people come up to me on the street, it’s John B. not Chase,” he said. “At first, your ego says you want to be known as your own self, and I just had to really redirect that by saying, ‘You know what? You’re hiding behind the lens of the character, and people have fallen in love with that character, so that they just see that right now. And that’s a beautiful thing, and it means I’ve done my job.’”
Who is Chase Stokes dating now?
Chase Stokes is dating Kelsea Ballerini. Take a look at how they met and his dating history below.
Kelsea Ballerini (2023 – present)
Chase Stokes and country singer Kelsea Ballerini confirmed their relationship in January 2023 when Stokes posted an Instagram photo of them attending the 2023 College Football Playoff National Championship together at the time. Ballerini reacted to the news in a TikTok video at the time. “I’m about to break up with the internet 5 sure,” she captioned the post.
That same month, Stokes told TMZ that he and Ballerini were “having a good time” but declined to define their relationship. “She’s a sweet girl,” he said. A source told Us Weekly in January 2023 that Stokes and Ballerini weren’t offically dating at the time but had been “flirting back and forth.” “Chase and Kelsea have been flirting back and forth since meeting through friends at the College Football National Championship Game in L.A., but they’re not together,” the insider said. “Something may happen down the line, but it was just innocent on both sides.”
Stokes broke his silence on his relationship with Ballerini in an interview with February 2023 after news she was set to appear as the musical guest on Saturday Night Live. “I mean, she’s the best,” he said. “I’m so excited for her and everything happening in her career right now.”
In an interview on the “Call Her Daddy” podcast in February 2023, Ballerini revealed that she and Stokes met after she direct messaged him on Instagram following her divorce from her ex-husband, Morgan Evans, in 2022.
“I slid into those DMs,” Ballerini said, adding that she was “not going to get on an app” to meet someone. “He shoots [Outer Banks] in Charleston, and my manager lives there. … He was like, ‘You know who’s really cute, like, when you’re ready? Chase.’ I was like, ‘You’re so right.’” She continued, “I’ve never seen his show, but I just knew of him, and I just swan dove right on in,” Ballerini said. When asked what her first message was to Stokes, Ballerini said, “His handle is ‘@hichasestokes,’ and I said, ‘Hi, Chase Stokes.’”
She continued, “I think I’m finally an adult. I think that just happened over the last couple of years, and I feel like what that means to me is I have opinions. I have a career that is a priority for me, to show up for myself and the people that I’ve aligned with along this journey. And I have aspirations and goals that are tied to no one, and those are all really important things.”
Ballerini also told the “Call Her Daddy” podcast that she wasn’t concerned about Evans seeing photos of her with Stokes. “I’m not married to him anymore,” she said. “I don’t need to care about his feelings anymore. And I mean that with all the respect in the world, but his journey is not mine anymore. I hope he is protected from whatever he needs to be protected from seeing — I hope he has people in his life that help him do that — [but] that is not my job.”
She also told the podcast about how she was “relearning” how to be in a relationship after her divorce. “I’m really relearning a lot about myself and how I show up in a relationship and how I show up for myself,” she said. “And it’s been a really beautiful reawakening.”
Isabella Metz (2022 – 2023)
Chase Stokes and model Izabella Metz were linked in June 2022 when they were photographed together in New York City. “Chase and Izzy went to a party at The Box together. They were seen arriving and exiting together, and then they went to Marquee and left there together as well,” a source told Us Weekly at the time. “They were out partying late.” The insider continued, “They were really flirty — hugging and holding hands. They were snuggling and canoodling in the car. They were definitely trying to be low-key.” It’s unclear when they broke up.
Madelyn Cline (2020 – 2021)
Chase Stokes and Madelyn Cline met on the set of Netflix’s Outer Banks—in which they played love interests John Booker Routledge and Sarah Cameron—in April 2019. The two also played small roles on Netflix’s Stranger Things. “I’ve heard a couple speculations out there that we met on Stranger Things,” Stokes told Life & Style in August 2021. “We actually never met. She did season 2, I did season 1. We didn’t meet until, like, a week and a half or two weeks before we started Outer Banks.”
Cline and Stokes sparked dating rumors in May 2020 when they started leaving flirty comments on each other’s Instagram accounts. “There were things that Chase and I specifically added to the script that felt personal,” Cline told Seventeen in 2020. “You have to sell it. It’s got to be compelling. Thankfully, the cast all clicked and we had such great chemistry, so we all had this friendship from the very beginning. So building on that and then projecting it on the screen felt very, very real.”
Stokes confirmed his relationship to Cline in June 2020 with an Instagram photo of them at the beach. “cats outta the bag,” he captioned the post, to which Cline commented, “Topper punching the air rn” and “I’ve fallen and I cant get up.” Their Outer Banks co-star Jonathan Daviss commented, “Well it’s about time.” Stokes opened up about his relationship with Cline in an interview with Today in July 2020. “It was cool to work with somebody you’re really good friends with,” he said. “To take the time to fall for each other after the show had wrapped was really cool. I was talking to my mom about it … it was cute and fun and it’s super cool to be a part of something with your partner and watch the success of it altogether.”
Cline confirmed she was in love with Stokes in an interview with Entertainment Tonight in November 2020. “It’s really cool. Love is tight,” she said “It’s cool to share this experience with your favorite people and also your favorite person … I feel very happy.” She continued of working with her then-boyfriend on Outer Banks, “I think because we were friends before this, we understood how we worked as individuals before we were seeing each other. We knew how we worked professionally and we knew each other’s personal boundaries… As a rule, we never bring anything negative to set. If there’s a disagreement or a conversation that needs to be had that could potentially rain on the parade for that day, that’s never something that happens before work.”
Cline and Stokes broke up in November 2021 after more than a year of dating. “Madelyn and Chase are no longer together,” a source told People at the time. “They were trying to work things out privately but broke up a couple of months ago.” Another insider added, “They are definitely broken up.”
A source told Us Weekly at the time that Stokes and Cline broke up because of their “busy schedules.” “They’ve been trying to work it out for quite some time but decided going their separate ways was best,” the insider said. “They both have busy schedules, which made it hard for them to spend a lot of time together. They have no bad feelings toward each other and remain friends.” Another source also told Us Weekly at the time that Stokes and Cline were “still friends” and that Stokes wanted “the best for her” amid rumors his ex-girlfriend was dating DJ Zack Bia after their breakup. The source also told the magazine that “all [was] good” between the exes and that Cline was “happy” with Bia.
In an interview with Cosmopolitan in February 2023, Cline opened up about what it was like to work with Stokes after their breakup. “We always said that the job remains untouched. Nothing else, personal or negative, will touch the job. And while that’s not always easy, our job is to leave the show better than we found it, to leave the season better than we found it. And I’m really appreciative of that,” she said. She continued, “My thing is, I don’t owe anyone an explanation. I am a really private person. There’s a part of me that is for me and nobody else. But in hindsight, duh, making my relationship public made it everybody else’s business. And I realized the negative side effects of that while going through the breakup, realizing I had let people in and then felt like I couldn’t get anybody out. It just hit me like a freight train. I wanted us both to move on and be happy. People see the need for sides. There are no sides—there’s no winning or losing in a breakup.”
Stokes also confirmed to Entertainment Weekly in February 2023 that he and Cline were able to keep their personal and professional lives separate. “Mads and I have been working together now for 30 episodes, and we made a promise to each other before we even started dating that the work was always going to come first,” he said. “And that no matter what happens in our personal lives, and the ways that life sometimes takes you in different directions, that we’re always going to honor the work. That stayed 100 percent truthful this season.”
Cline confirmed to Entertainment Weekly that she and Stokes have “always shown up for each other when it comes to work and this show.” “We had a working relationship before we had a personal relationship, and our job from day one has always been to leave the show better than we found it,” Cline said. “I’m really, really happy and I’m very proud of the work this season, and I’m incredibly grateful for my co-stars and their professionalism and just how talented each and every one of them are.” Stokes added of Cline, . “She’s an incredible person, a rockstar of an actress, and she’s having an incredible moment. Regardless of now not being together in a personal relationship, I’m still always going to be one of her biggest fans, and I’m super, super proud of all of her accomplishments inside the show and outside the show.”
Outer Banks co-creator Jonas Pates also told Entertainment Weekly about what it was like to work with Cline and Stokes after their breakup. “Honestly, and this isn’t just me: they’re pros,” he said. “They handled themselves unbelievably on set, and you would never know that they had an off-camera relationship. They were great. It’s a credit to Chase and to Maddie, they just put their heads down and did the work, so good for them.”
Co-creator Shannon Burke added, “Yeah, I was just thinking that the other day, they were so good. They were never once a problem. Whatever their off-screen stuff was, they didn’t bring it to set, as far as I could tell.”
Xiomara Montalvo (~2010 – 2020)
Chase Stokes and Xiomara Montalvo were high school sweethearts while attending Timber Creek High School. In December 2016, Montalvo’s family member, Lauren, shared an Instagram post post in honor of Stokes and Montalvo’s seven-year anniversary .Happy Anniversary❤ 7 yrs in the making @xio.montalvo @chasest0kes,” she captioned the post.
Stokes and Montalvo moved to California together in April 2017, according to an Instagram post by Lauren. “I couldn’t be more proud of these two humans, they did all we ask of them before they decided to follow their hearts and go on an adventure to California,” she wrote. “I believe with all I am this is the best thing for them. It’s hard to see them be so far but I know they cannot pursue all they are capable of here in Florida. Part of My heart lives in Cali now ❤️ @xio.montalvo @chasest0kes 🌴” Lauren’s last Instagram post for Stoke was in September 2018 when she shared a collage of photos in honor of Stokes’ birthday.
While it’s unclear when Stokes and Montalvo dated exactly, Stokes revealed in an interview with New York Magazine in 2020 that he and Montalvo broke up around the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. “I went through a breakup a little bit before quarantine, and it was with somebody I’d been with for almost 10 years,” he said.
Outer Banks is available to stream on Netflix.
