Kelsea Ballerini Shuts Down Chase Stokes Breakup Rumour With PDA

2 May 2023 | 11:31 am | Mallory Arbour

"It's really easy to put up walls and picket fences and barbed wire when a relationship doesn't go how you think it's going to."

(Image: Supplied)

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Kelsea Ballerini has denied rumours she and Outer Banks actor, Chase Stokes, have broken up, with a new PDA-filled photo of the couple smiling as they lean in for a kiss.

During a Q&A via her Instagram Story on Sunday, a fan asked, “Did u and chase break up?”

Ballerini responded, simply, “nah” with a smiling emoji.

Additionally, Ballerini revealed that she’s working on a deluxe version of her recent Rolling Up The Welcome Mat EP, which chronicles the end of her marriage to ex-husband Morgan Evans.

One of her followers asked, "RUTWM deluxe!!?," to which she responded with a photo of herself smiling while wearing headphones and holding a microphone, hinting that she's recording new music, following the February 14 release.

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On social media, Ballerini wrote, “Here’s my healing journey. Here’s my heart. Here’s my truth. I’ve never been this open, I’ve never been this bold, and I’ve never been this proud of my art. So, with love and respect, I’m rolling up the welcome mat. Six song story and short film out now.”

In a recent interview with PEOPLE, shared, "I feel like I'm playing catch up, really, since Rolling Up The Welcome Mat came out because I put out a proper record called Subject to Change in September, and that was an album that I spent two years on, and then obviously, I had a lot of life go on. I wrote about it 'cause that's what I've always done since I was a kiddo."

Rolling Up the Welcome Mat marked "the first time that I got back to a filterless way of making music," she continued. "I just did it for me, selfishly. I really thought I would put it out and move on. It's not happening that way, so I feel like I'm playing emotional catch-up in the best way."

Ballerini also spoke about her marriage as well as her relationship with Stokes.

"I've never had people care about my personal life like I have this last year," explained Ballerini. "I've experienced people caring about my music, and I've experienced people caring about certain friendships that I have with other artists. But I've never experienced people caring so much about my personal life."

"I'm adjusting, and it's new and I am figuring it out as I go," she continued. "But I don't know. I'm sure I'm going to overshare sometimes and then recoil sometimes. I'm figuring it out. I'm human."

"It's really easy to put up walls and picket fences and barbed wire when a relationship doesn't go how you think it's going to because you don't want to get hurt again," she added. 

"A real gift you can give yourself is to stay soft because you never know when you're going to find it again. The whole point of life is love, and I'm a heart-first girly, we all know this. I've written about blissfully and blindly following my heart into the abyss my whole career. And I will continue to do that hopefully 'til the day I die."

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Keep up to date with Kelsea Ballerini on her Facebook page here.