LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - JUNE 23: Karrueche Tran and Victor Cruz attend the 2019 BET Awards at Microsoft Theater on June 23, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Johnny Nunez/Getty Images)
Despite being broken up for nearly three years, Victor Cruz isn’t shying away from questions about his ex-girlfriend Karrueche Tran. Victor says he’s still friends with Tran and regularly speaks to her.
The former Super Bowl champion spilled about his current status with Tran in an appearance on The Pivot podcast. Released on Jan. 31, the episode briefly touches on navigating a public split. Victor reflected on a pandemic-era Zoom meeting where a participant mentioned Karrueche.
“I remember I was doing…it was like a whole Zoom meet-and-greet, and they bring through different rooms. In one room, dude [turned the camera] like, ‘what happened with you and Karrueche’ and I was like, ‘life happened, bro.'”
Victor said he smiled throughout the moment. The participant accepted his answer and transitioned to the next topic.
“Those are the things you gotta deal with. Those are the things that come with the territory. But again, it ain’t affecting my day-to-day. It ain’t affecting the way I move about life. I gotta answer a few questions about why…her and I broke up, I can answer that all day. It wasn’t anything malicious, it was just two people going their separate ways, going their separate directions in life.”
Cruz added that one person felt “they needed to do that on their own,” and the other felt that “they couldn’t,” but he didn’t specify which scenario applied to him and Karrueche.
Cruz also explained that a split doesn’t signify the end of friends or being “human beings” towards each other, particularly in tragedy.
“Still friends to this day. Still have conversations from time-to-time. You know she just had something happen to her in her life. She lost her dad. I lost my dad. You reach out! We’re human beings bro, we’re not like aliens that once we break up, oh my God, I gotta create this division. We’re still human beings, she still needs someone that’s been through something like that to reach out and say, hey I’m here if you need somebody to talk to.”
Karrueche’s father passed this month, and the actress revealed her emotional state on Jan. 23 to fans online.
“The past seven days have been tough, receiving the call I always feared…making decisions I wasn’t prepared for…being at Sundance, which is something I prayed for…trying to celebrate my accomplishments while in pain…feeling so many emotions all at once and at the same time feeling numb.”
Karrueche and Victor have spent just as long broken up as they did together. The former couple went public in December 2017, garnering fans of their relationship with appearances on red carpets, award shows, and public romantic gestures.
However, by February 2021, a source told E! News the couple had decided to move “forward in life separately” with “no hard feelings.” The source’s statements reflect the narrative Cruz explained in The Pivot.
Though the former athlete is open to answering questions, he’s proven before that he isn’t here for insults. Months after their split, Cruz clapped back at an Instagram user who suggested he “fumbled” Karrueche.
And while he discussed his ex-girlfriend openly on the podcast, Cruz seemingly hasn’t lacked in the love department. Days after ringing in the new year, Victor was spotted with a bikini-wearing mystery woman in Barbados. The New York Post first released the images. Though they shared smiles and laughs in the photos, it’s unclear if Cruz and the woman are dating.
