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Drama is brewing between Kelsea Ballerini’s former partners.
Chase Stokes, the actor who dated the 32-year-old country star, recently defended her after her ex-husband, Morgan Evans, discussed their divorce on Bobby Bones’ podcast, “The BobbyCast.”
Stokes didn’t mince words, labeling Evans’ comments as “the most pathetic excuse of masculinity” and advising him to “get a life” in a comment he later removed from Instagram.
Bobby Bones responded by sharing a screenshot of Stokes’ deleted remark on his Instagram. In a video, Bones supported Evans, pointing out that the singer had not spoken publicly about the split until now, and complimented Evans for his “really well” portrayal and “kind” account of the situation during the podcast.
Evans, addressing the critique, posted a series of images on Instagram depicting himself engaged in traditionally masculine tasks, such as lugging a mini fridge and chopping wood, with the caption, “Feeling pretty masculine today.”
Even Bones got in on the comments section, writing, “I laughed.”
After the back and forth between her two exes, Ballerini put her two cents in, posting a meme on her Instagram story Friday, which said, “And for the lady, perhaps a f–king break?”
While on Bones’ podcast, Evans said hearing that Ballerini wanted a divorce was unexpected.
“I was not expecting that conversation, no,” he said. “Maybe that was me being naive, but I definitely wasn’t. It took me by surprise. That whole time is such a blur. It almost feels like somebody else, just from where I’m sitting now. I just look back and I’m like, ‘Oh, my God.’”
Evans and Ballerini were married for nearly five years before she announced she filed for divorce in August 2022.
After their divorce, Ballerini released the six-song EP, “Rolling Up the Welcome Mat,” in February 2023, which she confirmed to be about her split from Evans.
Shortly after her divorce from Evans, Ballerini began dating the “Outer Banks” star, and she and Stokes made their red carpet debut together at the CMT Music Awards in April 2023.
The two broke up in September 2025 before briefly reconciling in December 2025.
“It looked a lot more dramatic than it was. And that was quite the learning lesson for us,” she told Entertainment Tonight about their reconciliation.
“But he’s — I love him so much. We’ve been together for quite a while now and done a lot of life together. And I love love, and I believe in it. And I 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.”
Despite wanting to make things work, she and Stokes called it quits for good early in 2026.