Chase Stokes shared what his friends from back home said in response to the actor’s romance with singer-songwriter Kelsea Ballerini.

The couple first started talking when Ballerini slid into the Outer Banks actor’s DMs on Instagram in December 2022. They sparked dating rumors for the first time when Stokes shared a photo sitting closely with Ballerini at the College Football Playoff National Championship the following month. In February 2023, Ballerini confirmed the new relationship in an interview.

“I’ve gotten a lot of texts from friends from back home when Kels and I started dating,” Stokes said in a new interview with InStyle, which published on Tuesday morning (October 15). “They’re like, ‘Ah, there he is: Hollywood went Hollywood, and now he’s getting back to his roots.’” Stokes said in the interview that his “country boy” side has emerged thanks to his relatoinship with Ballerini, who releases her fifth studio album on October 25.

Since they began dating, Ballerini and Stokes have shared sweet glimpses of their lives together with the public via their social media accounts. Stokes explained in the InStyle interview that “it’s a delicate dance for everybody, balancing what’s public and private. For me, it can be a bizarre thing to watch people hide their relationships. Because it’s natural, you get so excited to talk about your person who wins something, you want to celebrate all the moments within life. So I think for us, it was kind of a no-brainer to be a little open. We just really value real life. So I think being in a relationship, but hiding it from the world, would feel very false to both of us.”

Stokes has recently talked about Ballerini in other interviews, including how he feels about his future with the Grammy-nominated artist and how they prioritize spending time with one another, particularly with full work schedules. Ballerini said in a birthday tribute to Stokes last month, “there’s no one on the planet easier to celebrate.”