Kelsea Ballerini has a favor to ask of her fans in the midst of her current breakup drama. The singer addressed all the chatter about her personal life for the first time during a Dec. 1 Q&A on Instagram. In response to fans checking in on her current mental state, Ballerini assured that despite the chaos surrounding her recent split from Chase Stokes, she’s in a “happy place” at the moment.
At the end of November, various reports confirmed that Ballerini and Stokes had fully ended things despite briefly getting back together. The breakup was further complicated by Ballerini’s new song “Emerald City” — which many listeners believe is about Stokes’ ex Madelyn Cline — as well as some cryptic Instagram messages from Stokes.
For her part, Ballerini has remained silent on her personal life in the couple weeks since the split, instead posting only to promote her music. But she gave a rare update on her Instagram Stories after a fan asked her how they can support her if she’s not feeling her best right now.
“Thank you for saying this and asking. I’m in a steady and happy place right now, truly excited for this Australia tour and the holidays,” Ballerini replied. “If I had one favor, it would be honoring that I’m trying to make my personal life personal for now. Unless it comes from me, it’s not from me. And that is really important in protecting my peace right now.”
It was first reported that Ballerini and Stokes broke up in mid-September, bringing an end to nearly three years together. The initial split came as a shock, since Stokes had just posted a lovey-dovey Instagram for Ballerini’s birthday (which is still up) right before the news broke.
But that first breakup seemed to be mended pretty quickly. In early November, Us Weekly reported they had gotten back together following a romantic trip to Scotland together weeks earlier. And just as fast as they rekindled, they broke up again just over a week later, per another Us Weekly report.
It’ll probably take some more time before Ballerini or Stokes open up more about what exactly went down these last few months, but it sounds like Ballerini is figuring out how to let her fans in on her personal life again after all this drama.
