Chase Stokes Opens Up About Kelsea Ballerini Relationship

Chase Stokes and Kelsea Ballerini pose at the opening night of the new musical "Shucked" on Broadway at The Nederlander Theatre on April 4, 2023 in New York City — (Image credit: Photo by Bruce Glikas / Getty)

Chase Stokes is fine with being Kelsea Ballerini's "golden retriever boyfriend."

The two have been dating since early 2023, and have been super open about their adorable relationship since then.

Recently, Stokes attended the CMT awards where Ballerini put on a stunning performance with drag queens, and was spotted filming faithfully from the audience.

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The Outer Banks actor was MCing Netflix's Tudum: A Global Fan Event in São Paulo this past weekend, and was asked about how he feels about a certain nickname his CMT behavior earned him.

"You went viral at the CMT awards after filming Kelsea's performance on your phone," a reporter for Entertainment Tonight told him. "I believe the internet dubbed you 'the golden retriever boyfriend.' What do you make of that title?"

Without hesitation, Stokes said, "I'll take the job! I'll take it. I've got a golden retriever—half a golden retriever. He's golden retriever and German shepherd, but yeah, adds up! I'll take it!"

If you're unfamiliar with the trope, a "golden retriever boyfriend" is basically a boyfriend with endlessly positive and supportive energy, and who is generally very wholesome towards his partner.

"You and Kelsea must be huge fans of each other in your work," the reporter continued.

Stokes gushed, "Oh my gosh, yeah. And she seriously is the best human being on planet Earth, and she's so damn talented.

"I was just watching videos, she's been sending me stuff from last night, Santa Barbara, and just to see her music and her kind of shine in the ways that she's getting in recent times, it's been beautiful."

The country star admitted on the Call Her Daddy podcast that she originally slid into her boyfriend's DMs. She said, "I've never seen his show, but I just knew of him, and I just swan dove right on in. His handle is '@hichasestokes,' and I said, 'Hi, Chase Stokes'" (via People).

Aw, these two!

Chase Stokes and Kelsea Ballerini attend the 2023 CMT Music Awards at Moody Center on April 02, 2023 in Austin, Texas.

It's even more heartwarming to see how well Ballerini and Stokes' relationship is going because of the tough times the singer has had recently. The country star divorced from her ex-husband Morgan Evans in 2022, with both of them writing extremely honest breakup songs about each other: namely "Over for You" on Evans' side, and "Mountain With a View" for Ballerini.

Iris Goldsztajn is a London-based journalist, editor and author. She is the morning editor at Marie Claire, and her work has appeared in the likes of British Vogue, InStyle, Cosmopolitan, Refinery29 and SELF. Iris writes about everything from celebrity news and relationship advice to the pitfalls of diet culture and the joys of exercise. She has many opinions on Harry Styles, and can typically be found eating her body weight in cheap chocolate.