In the ever-turbulent world of Hollywood romances, a subtle social media gesture has reignited interest in the tangled love lives of Outer Banks stars. Nearly two weeks after country singer Kelsea Ballerini and actor Chase Stokes announced their second breakup, Stokes' ex-girlfriend and former co-star Madelyn Cline appeared to offer quiet support to Ballerini through a like on an Instagram post. The post highlighted Ballerini's empathetic comment on a song about infidelity, drawing attention to the lingering connections among these celebrities.
The breakup between Stokes and Ballerini, first reported in late August 2023 after a brief reconciliation earlier that year, marks the second time the couple has parted ways. Their relationship, which began publicly in January 2022, had been a high-profile pairing blending the worlds of television and country music. Ballerini, known for hits like "Peter Pan," walked the red carpet solo at the 2024 Grammy Awards on February 4, 2024, fueling speculation about the split. According to sources close to the couple, the decision was mutual, though details remain sparse.
Enter Madelyn Cline, who dated Stokes from 2020 to 2021 during the early days of Outer Banks fame. The actress, now 26, liked a social media post on February 9, 2024, that recapped an exchange between Ballerini and fellow country artist Ashley Cooke. Cooke had shared a clip of her new song "Xs," which laments an ex with "wandering eyes" and a penchant for "hiding" the truth. Lyrics like "Don't deny, I know you did it / It doesn't matter how you spin it / Want me back after that? Forget it / Don't you know, crossing lines makes Xs" struck a chord with Ballerini, who commented, "Mmmhhhmmm," to which Cooke replied, "You get it."
Cline's like on the post, first noted by entertainment outlet E! News, suggests solidarity with Ballerini, whom she has publicly befriended. Just one day after Ballerini's solo Grammy appearance, Cline posted a selfie on Instagram of the two women laughing together, their foreheads touching in a moment of apparent camaraderie. The image, shared on February 5, 2024, was captioned simply with emojis, underscoring a bond that transcends any past romantic entanglements with Stokes.
This isn't the first time Cline has reflected on her own history with Stokes. In a March 2024 episode of the Therapuss podcast, the actress opened up about the challenges of their 2021 breakup. "You look at any public breakup and so many people are invested," Cline said. "And also we still, to this day, share this huge thing that is a massive part of both of our lives. So, it was really, really hard to separate." She added a note of growth, stating, "But also, like any breakup, you grow out of it, which is great."
Cline emphasized the importance of professionalism on the set of Outer Banks, the Netflix series that propelled both actors to stardom. In a February 2023 interview with People magazine, she explained, "We've said from day one, our job is always to leave the show and the season better than when we left it last. And everybody is still very much a family. Outer Banks has always been a family. And I'm just happy that we are able to remain professional." The show's fourth season, currently in production, continues to feature both Cline and Stokes as leads, highlighting their ability to navigate personal history for the sake of their careers.
The dynamics at play here echo a long-standing pattern in Hollywood: co-stars who blur the lines between on-screen chemistry and off-screen romance. Such relationships often captivate fans but can complicate professional lives. For instance, during the HBO Max reunion special for Friends in 2021, Jennifer Aniston and David Schwimmer revealed mutual crushes from the show's first season. Schwimmer admitted, "Yeah, the first season we—I had a major crush on Jen," while Aniston reciprocated, "It was reciprocated."
Despite the sparks, Aniston and Schwimmer never pursued a full romance, citing timing issues. "At some point, we were both crushing hard on each other, but it was like two ships passing because one of us was always in a relationship, and we never crossed that boundary. We respected that," Schwimmer explained during the special. Aniston recalled a poignant moment, saying, "Honestly, I remember saying one time to David, 'It's going to be such a bummer if the first time you and I actually kiss is going to be on national television.' And sure enough, the first time we kissed was in that coffee shop." Their bond included innocent on-set cuddling, with Schwimmer noting, "I thought back on the very first year or two, you know, when we had breaks from rehearsal, like, there were moments where we would cuddle on the couch." Aniston added, "Or we would spoon and fall asleep on the couch."
Schwimmer reflected, "I'm thinking, how did not everyone know we were crushing on each other?"
Similarly, Kaley Cuoco and Johnny Galecki of The Big Bang Theory kept their two-year romance a secret from 2008 to 2010. Cuoco later told CBS Watch! magazine, "It was such a huge part of my life and no one knew about it. It was a wonderful relationship, but we never spoke a word about it and never went anywhere together." The privacy, while protective of the show, contributed to their split. "We were so protective of ourselves and the show and didn't want anything to ruin that. But that also made it sad, too," Cuoco shared. "That's not the kind of relationship I want—I don't want to be hiding."
The Saved by the Bell cast in the late 1980s and early 1990s exemplified even more interconnected romances. Mark-Paul Gosselaar, who played Zack Morris, dated multiple co-stars, including Lark Voorhies for three years, Tiffani Thiessen, and Elizabeth Berkley. Gosselaar described the set as "incestuous" in a 2009 People interview: "All of us dated at one point or another—it was incestuous! Sometimes the girls would gang up on the guys. Tiffani and Elizabeth would hate me, and then they'd hate Lark because Lark was talking to me, and Mario was supposed to side with someone. All that stuff you did in high school, like, 'How could you talk to him?'"
Thiessen recalled her time with Gosselaar fondly, saying in the same interview, "Mark-Paul and I got to go to Paris [for a press tour]. We ate crepes, and my first sip of alcohol was with him. It felt at times like we were Barbie and Ken." Mario Lopez, another cast member, also dated Thiessen and admitted in his memoir Just Between Us to infidelity during their relationship: "I thought that being loyal to Tiffani was the right thing to do. But I can't say that I was capable at that age of following through on my noble intentions."
Over on Beverly Hills, 90210, Brian Austin Green and Tori Spelling had a brief romance in the early 1990s, though perspectives differ. Spelling, on the 2020 Woman on Top podcast, said, "[Brian] and I have different perspectives of what that was. There's the young girl version and the young boy version, so two different versions." She claimed, "Remember that summer we were together? You said 'I love you' and I said 'I love you,'" while Green remembered it as, "No, we hooked up. We were friends." Spelling later admitted on a 2015 Celebrity Lie Detector test that she was "always in love" with Green.
Other notable co-star flings include Melissa Joan Hart and Ryan Reynolds after their 1996 TV movie Sabrina the Teenage Witch. In her 2013 memoir Melissa Explains It All, Hart wrote, "I remember that his lips were pretty wonderful, plus he has these big hands and shoulders that completely swallowed my petite frame. It was a terrific distraction from how strongly he smelled of hair product." Kelly Clarkson and Justin Guarini dated briefly in 2003 while filming From Justin to Kelly, post their American Idol competition. Clarkson told Watch What Happens Live in 2015, "We didn't date during Idol, which everybody thought we were dating... I think any two people who are thrown together that much [would eventually date]."
Even Miley Cyrus and Lucas Till shared a two-month romance in 2009 while filming Hannah Montana: The Movie. Till told an Atlanta radio station, "I think it will make the movie a little better cause it was definitely real." Vanessa Hudgens and Josh Hutcherson briefly dated in 2011 after her split from Zac Efron, a fact that surfaced awkwardly during a 2012 Australian morning show interview where Hutcherson joked, "We're not. We were at one point, but she broke my heart…no, I'm just kidding."
These stories illustrate the double-edged sword of on-set romances: they can fuel authentic performances but often lead to public scrutiny and personal strain. For Cline, Stokes, and Ballerini, the recent events underscore how past relationships continue to intersect in unexpected ways. As Outer Banks season four prepares for release later in 2024, fans will watch closely to see if professional harmony holds amid the personal drama. Ballerini, meanwhile, has hinted at new music inspired by her experiences, while Cline focuses on projects like her role in Glass Onion. In Hollywood, where lines between work and love blur so easily, such subtle gestures may be the closest thing to closure.