“Outer Banks” star Chase Stokes had high praise for Kelsea Ballerini after the two sparked dating rumors last month.
The 30-year-old actor addressed the romance speculation in a new interview with People magazine as he maintained that he and the 29-year-old country singer “have just been spending time together.”
“Kelsea is a lovely, lovely girl,” the “Tell Me Your Secrets” alum said.
“Outer Banks” star Chase Stokes praised Kelsea Ballerini as he addressed dating rumors. (Getty)
He continued, “She’s great. We’re having a good time.”
KELSEA BALLERINI, ‘OUTER BANKS’ STAR CHASE STOKES SPARK ROMANCE RUMORS AFTER FLIRTY EXCHANGES
Rumors of a romance between pair swirled after they were pictured getting close at the College Football Playoff National Championship game on Jan. 9 and exchanging flirty messages on Instagram.
Stokes shared a carousel of photos from the game to his Instagram page. In one snap, he was seen cozied up next to Ballerini in their box seats as they watched the Georgia Bulldogs take on the TCU Horned Frogs.
Though the two were pictured from behind, Stokes tagged the “Miss Me More” hitmaker in the snap.
Ballerini, who hails from Mascot, Tennessee, gave the University of Tennessee Volunteers football team a shout-out in the comments of Stokes’ post, writing “go vols,” along with an emoji of a monkey covering its eyes.
Romance rumors began to swirl after Stokes shared this picture with Ballerini in a series of photos posted to his Instagram. (Instagram)
Stokes and Ballerini were also seen getting close in a photo shared by Raising Cane’s founder Todd Graves. Graves hosted the duo along with other actors, musicians and influencers in his VIP box at the game.
The two were seen standing together in a group photo as Ballerini held Stokes’ arm and leaned on him from behind.
The actor, who played a brief role in “Stranger Things,” commented on a slideshow of photos that the three-time Grammy nominee shared to Instagram earlier that week. He wrote, “Could you please add piping hot sake to the list on slide 8 please with a side of burnt fingertips?”
The eighth slide of Ballerini’s post was a clip of the singer as she stomped in front of a mirror and jokingly said, “You just go and you just eat the food and you talk about the things that you do, OK?”
A few days later, the three-time Grammy award nominee, who finalized her divorce from Morgan Evans in August, took to TikTok to address the dating speculation, referencing a post about her from a gossip site.
“I know, I know, I know, I know, I know. I know,” she lamented to the camera, as a screenshot of the post displayed in the background. “Stop reading. Stop reading. Stop looking.”
The three-time Grammy award nominee finalized her divorce from Morgan Evans in August. (Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic)
“But what is happening, guys?” she asked her followers.
“What? What? What?” she said as she motioned to different parts of the message. “No — let’s not do this, you know?”
The post behind her reads in part, “She’s too busy consistently asking out the manager at Soho House Nash when she comes in all the time after last call… This has to be a PR play,” referencing the photo of Ballerini and Stokes.
“I’m about to break up with the internet 5 sure,” Ballerini captioned her video.
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However, fans noted that the singer never confirmed or denied their relationship status in the TikTok video.
Stokes previously dated his “Outer Banks” co-star Madelyn Cline. (Kevin Mazur/2021 MTV Movie and TV Awards/Getty Images for MTV/ViacomCBS)
During his interview with People, Chase also praised his ex-girlfriend and “Outer Banks” co-star Madelyn Cline, 25.
The two, who play each other’s love interests, dated for more than a year after meeting on the Netflix show’s set in 2019.
“A long time ago, we agreed to always put the work first. So I think going into this next chapter, we just wanted to equally honor that promise,” he told the outlet.
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He continued, “Truth be told, she’s an incredible actress. She’s a lovely human being. And I’m over the moon and just super proud of the work that we’ve done over the past three seasons. I’m always going to root for her.”
Fox News Digital’s Caroline Thayer contributed to this report.
