‘Outer Banks’ Star Madelyn Cline Opens up About Her Breakup With Chase Stokes

Playing a couple on screen is challenging enough under normal circumstances, but doing it after a real-life breakup adds an entirely different layer of difficulty. Few actors have had to navigate that particular situation as publicly as the stars of one of Netflix’s biggest teen adventure series.

Madelyn Cline and Chase Stokes have spent years playing star-crossed lovers Sarah Cameron and John B on ‘Outer Banks,’ a dynamic that became complicated once their real-life relationship ended. The two dated for over a year before splitting in November 2021, all while continuing to film scenes together as a couple for the show.

Cline has now opened up about just how tough that transition actually was behind the scenes. “There were moments when it was difficult, absolutely,” Cline told The Hollywood Reporter. “But once the dust kind of settled, we were able to just revert to the friendship that we always had. At some point, you look at each other, and you’re like, ‘Are you ready to stop being miserable? Because I’m ready.'”

That candid admission offers a rare glimpse into how the two actors managed to keep working together despite the personal history between them. Rather than avoiding the subject entirely, Cline’s comments suggest both she and Stokes eventually reached a mutual understanding that allowed them to move past the awkwardness and reconnect as friends.

That shift appears to have paid off for the show itself. ‘Outer Banks’ has continued for multiple seasons since their split, with Cline and Stokes maintaining their central on-screen romance throughout, a dynamic that clearly required both actors to find a way to coexist professionally regardless of their personal history.

Beyond addressing her relationship with Stokes, Cline also used the interview to reflect on how overwhelming the earlier stages of her career felt once ‘Outer Banks’ turned her into a household name. She described the experience of sudden visibility as disorienting, saying, “It’s like, here you go, here I am, on a silver platter. There’s no acclimation. No time wasted.”

That kind of rapid exposure, paired with a very public relationship playing out alongside her rising career, likely compounded the challenges she’s now describing more openly years later. Balancing personal growth with an intensely scrutinized public life is rarely simple, and Cline’s comments suggest she’s had time to process just how much all of it demanded from her early on.

Since parting ways with Stokes, Cline has been linked to several high-profile partners, including Jackson Guthy, Pete Davidson, and influencer Henry Smith. Stokes, meanwhile, went on to date singer Kelsea Ballerini, a relationship that recently ended as well.

Despite their respective romantic journeys since the split, Cline has consistently emphasized that she and Stokes made a conscious effort to protect their working relationship. She previously told Cosmopolitan that the two agreed early on that “the job remains untouched,” insisting that nothing personal would be allowed to interfere with their professional commitment to the show.

For years, fans of ‘Outer Banks’ have closely followed the off-screen relationship between its two leads, given how directly it once mirrored the central romance driving the show’s plot. Cline’s latest comments offer some of the most direct insight yet into how genuinely difficult that overlap became, and how deliberately both actors worked to move past it.

With the show having continued well beyond their breakup, it’s clear that whatever difficulty existed behind the scenes never derailed the partnership fans have come to expect from Sarah Cameron and John B on screen.

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