Madelyn Cline is sharing a behind-the-scenes look at her friendship with ex Chase Stokes’ girlfriend, Kelsea Ballerini.
In a photo shared via her Instagram Story on Monday, February 2, Cline, 28, placed her hand over her mouth as she appeared to be laughing at the camera. Ballerini, meanwhile, covered her face with her hand as she wore her hair in a laid-back bun.
In lieu of a caption, Cline simply tagged Ballerini, 32, in the photo.
Cline’s photo comes one day after Ballerini stepped out at the 2026 Grammys and got candid about her personal life following her split — and recoupling — with Stokes, 33.
“I’ve always been a chronic oversharer, and I think for the first time, at 32, I’m reigning it in,” she said during a Sunday, February 2, interview on E! Live from the Red Carpet. “I think my life might just be my life for a while. It feels right.”
Ballerini noted that she learned “a lot” while making her album Patterns, which earned a nomination for Best Contemporary Country Album at the awards show. (Jelly Roll ultimately took home the trophy for his Beautifully Broken album.)
“I’ve been such a chronic people pleaser for my whole life and most of my career,” she said. “I think I’m starting to shift that in a healthy way.”
Us Weekly exclusively confirmed in January that Ballerini had reconnected with Stokes, two months after the pair split again.
“I feel like outwardly, it looked a lot more dramatic than it was,” Ballerini reflected to Entertainment Tonight at the Grammys. “And that was quite the learning lesson for us. But I love him so much. We’ve been together for quite a while now and done a lot of life together, and he was with me getting ready today, and he’ll be with me when we wrap.”
She continued, “I love love, and I believe in it. And also, I believe so much in finding the things that make you happy and finding the things that you want to work on and figuring out, when the rubber meets the road, how to make that work.”
Cline, meanwhile, confirmed her relationship with her Outer Banks costar in June 2020 after months of fan speculation. More than one year later, the pair called it quits in November 2021.
“I think at the time I didn’t realize what the repercussions of inviting so many people into — let’s be honest — something that’s intimate,” Cline reflected of their romance on a March 2025 episode of the “Therapuss” podcast. “I didn’t understand it. I was so in love.”
“I think they loved it because of us, but they also loved John B and Sarah first and foremost,” Cline continued, referencing their Outer Banks characters before adding that it was “totally” hard to separate. “You look at any public breakup and, you know, so many people are invested, and of course that was really hard.”
Cline has since been linked to Zack Bia, Jackson Guthy and Pete Davidson since her split from Stokes. In September 2025, she was seen getting cozy with Prince Constantine-Alexios of Greece and Denmark.
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