They tried to show they were still going strong, with PDA-heavy photo dumps and publicly shooting down claims they were on the rocks.

But it wasn’t enough to quell the escalating rumors that Kelsea Ballerini and Chase Stokes’ relationship was in trouble.

Indeed, it proved to be in dire straits. 

Ballerini, 32, and Stokes, 33, ended their relationship last weekend, just 48 hours after Stokes expressed his love in a heartfelt Instagram post celebrating her birthday.

‘Even though you say you’re not excited for 32, I’d say I’m looking forward to more of this. Happy birthday, my love,’ he wrote next to a series of sweet photos.

By Sunday, everything was different, with Ballerini’s representative confirming their breakup. Fans were left confused, wondering: ‘How did they go from this to breaking up?’

But what fans couldn’t see behind the curated online image was the raging jealousy that an insider told the Daily Mail ultimately led to their demise after three turbulent years together. 

Kelsea Ballerini and Chase Stokes called it quits in a statement on Sunday night 

‘It started off hot and heavy and everything you’d want in a relationship, and then Chase started getting jealous over every little thing,’ an insider told the Daily Mail 

‘It started off hot and heavy and everything you’d want in a relationship, and then Chase started getting jealous over every little thing,’ the insider said.

‘Every time she would be doing her own thing, he’d think she was flirting or up to no good.’ 

Ballerini has been called the next Taylor Swift, and the similarities are seemingly endless, from starting their country music careers at a young age in Nashville to becoming famous for vulnerable songs about high-profile relationships with fellow A-listers. 

Like Swift, Ballerini has dealt with her fair share of romance rumors.

She married Australian country singer Morgan Evans in 2017 in Mexico, when she was 24 and he was 32.

At the time, they were equally popular, but her career quickly skyrocketed and seemingly left him in the dust. 

They announced they were divorcing in 2022 with a statement on Instagram. 

‘I’ve always tried my best to share my life with you in a real and vulnerable way, while also protecting layers of my personal life as they unfold,’ Ballerini said.

‘This is now a public record so I wanted you to hear from me directly that I am going through a divorce.’

Stokes dated his Outer Banks co-star Madelyn Cline (right) from June 2020 until November 2021 

When Ballerini appeared on the Call Her Daddy podcast, she wasn’t afraid to share gritty details about their relationship, explaining they went through ‘years of couples therapy,’ and she spent many nights sleeping on the couch. 

Their contentious break up included nonstop drama, through accusatory lyrics and Instagram captions. 

Stokes is also no stranger to high-profile relationships. He dated his Outer Banks co-star Madelyn Cline from June 2020 until November 2021, and many fans were desperate for them to reconcile – which looked far less likely when he became Instagram official with Ballerini.

After Ballerini’s divorce, she got together with Stokes. The two couldn’t get enough of each other.

Their Instagram pages were full of smiling pictures cozying up together, and fans were convinced they were the perfect couple. 

After both publicly celebrated their anniversary, the once consistent slew of pictures seemingly stopped out of nowhere, leading to rumors all over Reddit. 

Some wondered if her recent TikTok posting about finding peace was referencing a potential breakup. Others thought her Paris trip looked like it could be a post-break up girls’ getaway.  

‘I think it’s more of a “they’re on the rocks” situation,’ one fan mused.

They put the rumors to rest when they stepped out on May 8 looking cozy at the Academy of Country Music Awards.

Stokes and Ballerini stepped out together on May 8 at the Academy of Country Music Awards, smiling for photos and putting on the PDA

Stokes had just publicly celebrated Ballerini’s birthday with an Instagram days before their split was confirmed

Then, on July 15, Ballerini confirmed they were still together but hinted at trouble in paradise.

‘I think we’re two and a half years in, so [the relationship] looks a lot different now than it did in the beginning,’ she told Us Weekly.

‘I just want all the good things in the world for him.’ 

She also gave insight into why they hadn’t been spotted together recently, saying their schedules ‘flip flopped,’ and that he had a ‘heavy summer’ while shooting Outer Banks – ‘we’re just yin and yang.’ 

The source told the Daily Mail that behind the scenes, it wasn’t just about busy schedules. Instead, it was all about his jealousy. 

‘She wasn’t doing anything wrong, she wanted to have fun and be a in a relationship that was going to go somewhere, and the only place it was going was downhill,’ they said. ‘Instead of continuing to fall in love, they just would fall into disagreements and then his jealousy would kick in.

‘It just became a situation where it was a waste of time to nurture, it was better to be away from each other.’

They said Ballerini ‘can now find someone that is right for her, and he can find someone to no longer be jealous about.’