Karrueche Tran supported NFL legend Deion Sanders at his bedside throughout his 2025 bladder cancer treatment.
While the pair have not confirmed whether they are dating, Sanders credited Tran with supporting him when he underwent surgery to remove his bladder after doctors found a cancerous tumor in May 2025. Tran could be seen at Sanders’ side in the 2025 documentary For Your Glory, which chronicled the football coach’s cancer surgery and recuperation.
The socialite and actress has experience with high-profile relationships, as she found fame through dating singer Chris Brown on and off between 2011 and 2015. Their relationship ended in turmoil when Tran was granted a five-year restraining order against the musician in 2017, amid allegations of violent threats. (Brown denied any wrongdoing.)
During her relationship with Brown, Tran started modeling and eventually landed her breakthrough acting role in web soap The Bay, for which she made history as the first Asian Pacific American to win a Lead Actor award at the Daytime Emmys.
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Keep scrolling for five things you need to know about Tran:
Tran first came to public attention when she started dating Brown in 2011. The pair were together for around a year before Brown got back together with ex-girlfriend Rihanna.
Tran and Brown eventually reconciled in 2013 and were together for the next two years. The couple split for good in 2015, after Tran learned that Brown was expecting daughter Royalty with Nia Guzman.
“Yeah, when it hit TMZ, I was like ‘Oh, OK. Ugh,’” Tran admitted to Real 92.3 LA in May 2015. “I called him. I cussed him out, and I was like [I’m done]. You know, because after the whole Rihanna thing, it’s been like a year or whatever — we’ve been trying to fix what was broken, and that was just the icing on the cake.”
Brown and Tran had several very public arguments via social media over their breakup, yet the socialite and model said on On Air With Ryan Seacrest in July 2015 that she wasn’t completely ruling out a future reconciliation with the musician.
Karrueche Tran and Chris Brown in 2015. Noam Galai/Getty Images for Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week
“Us getting back together, I can’t say,” Tran admitted to the radio host. “I don’t know what the future holds. As of right now, I’m just completely focused on myself. I’m not trying to date anybody. I just want to figure out me. There’s no drama between us. It’s peaceful, it’s cordial.”
However, Tran was eventually granted a five-year restraining order against Brown in February 2017 over allegedly threatening text messages where he demanded that she return diamond rings and other gifts from their relationship. In the court proceedings, Tran accused Brown of being physically violent prior to their 2015 split.
Brown denied any wrongdoing, saying in 2017: “Her team is trying their best. For what? No one has served me and the lengths they are going, I should call them stalkers. What’s even more f***ed up is that, they played off my past by saying I abused her. C’mon now, opening old wounds to make Kae a victim, that’s some evil s***. Sad part, y’all believe it. ‘Leave her alone.’ Provoking me to spazz so they can have something.”
“Notice that this s*** happens when they need to promote something,” he went on. “No one cares, especially me. That’s why I’m being slandered. Nobody will care about them if my name isn’t involved. I want nothing to do wit her … you think I wanna chase or still be with someone who would try to destroy me??? She doesn’t need a restraining from me. I need one from them.”
Tran was involved with former New York Giants wide receiver Cruz from 2017 to 2021. According to Cruz, Tran took an active role in coparenting his daughter, Kennedy, whom he shares with his former partner Elaina Watley.
“They hit it off immediately and they get along great,” Cruz exclusively told Us Weekly in February 2020. “It’s been fun because Kennedy is a smart kid so for her to gravitate to someone like that was great for me to see.”
Around that same period, Cruz revealed to Us that he and Tran had spoken about the possibility of getting married.
Karrueche Tran and Victor Cruz in February 2020. Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for AT&T
“She is just a beautiful person and I love everything about her inside and out, from the way she carries herself to the way she is with me — just everything about her. So, I’m loving that about her and I’m trying to relish in that and continue,” Cruz said. “It will be two years in November, so we’re just gonna continue to learn [about] each other and continue to experience things with one another and continue to spend more time together.”
E! News reported in February 2021 that Cruz and Tran split in order to focus on their careers.
In between her relationships with Brown and Cruz, Tran also briefly dated Migos rapper Quavo in 2017. After Quavo and Brown released diss tracks about one another, Tran told TMZ that she wanted nothing to do with the drama.
“I don’t feel [anything about it]. It is what it is. I’m living my life,” she insisted in July 2024. “Working, paying my bills, taking time for myself and that’s all that matters. Whatever else is going on, I ain’t got nothing to do with it.”
Tran then declared, “I’m living a peaceful life, that’s all I want!”
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The actress was once rumored to be dating Rob Kardashian, though outlets eventually clarified that they were simply old friends dating back to their teenage years.
Tran worked at Nordstrom when she started dating Brown in 2011, though she later carved out a career as an in-demand model and actress. She landed the leading role as Vivian Johnson in the web soap The Bay in 2013, for which she made history as the first Asian Pacific American actress to win the Outstanding Performance by a Lead Actress in a Daytime Fiction Program Award in 2021. She subsequently won two more Daytime Emmys for producing The Bay.
“I.. really don’t even know where to begin… when I got nominated I was soooo surprised and grateful but was like nah there’s no way I’m gonna actually win.. the nom was more than enough.. but God had a different plan for me.. I’m still in shock,” she wrote via Instagram in July 2021.
Tran joined the cast of the TNT drama Claws in 2017 and has appeared in the movies The Nice Guys and Jay and Silent Bob Reboot, in addition to more recently having a recurring role as Ivy in the Fresh Prince reboot series Bel-Air.
Romance rumors for Sanders and Tran started in July 2025 when she was shown at his bedside in the documentary For Your Glory, as the athlete came to grips with his cancer diagnosis.
“We are dealing with bladder cancer,” she tearfully explained. “He is having his bladder removed and they will create a new bladder with one of his intestines.”
Tran noted that “the best” option for Sanders was to have his bladder taken out “because it fully removes the cancer to ensure it doesn’t come back, because it was close to his muscle.”
Sanders quite literally leaned on Tran to take his first steps after surgery, as she physically helped him walk around the hospital wing where he was being treated.
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Tran was shown consulting with Sanders’ doctor, before the University of Colorado head football coach told a nurse that the actress had been crucial to getting him out of bed.
“I think she might be better than the cane,” Sanders beamed.
Sanders was filmed with his arm wrapped around Tran in For Your Glory, though neither has confirmed that they are dating.
