The country star, 30, has been very open about how she and her boyfriend, Chase Stokes, met (she slid unapologetically into his DMs). Now, she has even made the message public.
In the final slide of her birthday tribute to Stokes, now 31, Ballerini included a screenshot of the couple’s very first interaction.
“Hiii chase stokes,” Ballerini messaged the actor (a cheeky reference to his username @hichasestokes) on Instagram at 1:07 a.m. on Dec. 1, 2022.
Two hours later, Stokes replied, “Hey there how u doin.
The “Half of My Hometown” singer captioned the birthday tribute, which contains several sweet photos and videos of herself and the Outer Banks actor, “Happy birthday, my sweet virgo.”
“My human ❤️,” Stokes responded to the Saturday post.
Several users praised the singer-songwriter for the bold DM exchange, commenting things like, “It’s you shootin your shot at 1:07 am for me,” “Love that you showed how you shot your shot and got what you got ????❤️ and “The DM is just icing on the cake! So precious ????.”
Ballerini’s pals also shared some love for the happy couple on Stokes' special day.
Celebrity hairstylist Chris Appleton wrote, “God I love [u] 2,” and Chelsea Handler and Bobby Berk each commented several red heart emojis on the birthday tribute.
The country singer first shared the story of how she and Stokes met on the Call Her Daddy podcast in February.
She told the podcast hosts that she slid into Stokes' DMs after the two followed each other on Instagram.
“I've never seen his show, but I just knew of him, and I just swan dove right on in,” she said.
Ballerini went on to explain that she approached her relationship with the actor, which began shortly after the December DM, with a new perspective after filing for divorce from Morgan Evans last August after five years of marriage.
“I think I'm finally an adult,” she said on the episode. “I think that just happened over the last couple of years, and I feel like what that means to me is I have opinions. I have a career that is a priority for me, to show up for myself and the people that I've aligned with along this journey. And I have aspirations and goals that are tied to no one, and those are all really important things.”
The "Miss Me More" singer added, "I have my s--- together, you know what I mean?"
Earlier this month, Stokes shared a heartfelt tribute to Ballerini, who also has a September birthday, on Instagram.
“Dirty 30 looks pretty damn good on you ballerini. i love you ❤️,” he captioned an Instagram carousel of cute photos and videos of the couple.
“You really made 29 ????????????????,” the country singer — who spent her birthday performing at the MTV VMAs — responded. “I love you stokes.”
