Deion Sanders and Tracey Edmonds End Engagement After 3 Years
Updated Dec. 5 2023, 2:11 p.m. ET
The Gist:
- NFL coach Deion Sanders and Hollywood producer Tracey Edmonds have ended their engagement after three years.
- Deion’s dating history also includes ex-wives Carolyn Chambers Sanders and Pilar Sanders.
After three years of being engaged and several more years of dating, NFL coach Deion Sanders and Hollywood producer Tracey Edmonds have split. The ex-couple announced the end of their engagement in a Facebook statement on Sunday, Dec. 3.
“To everyone who has been there for us, supported us, and shown us love… we have mutually decided that it is best for us to move forward in life as friends and have made this decision with love in our hearts, respect for each other, and appreciation for the time we’ve shared together,” they wrote.
Tracey’s exes include singer Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds, to whom she was married from 1992 to 2005, and actor Eddie Murphy. Deion, meanwhile, has some exes, too. Here’s a breakdown…
Deion Sanders’ dating history reportedly includes Gabrielle Reece.
Deion dated former volleyball star Gabrielle Reece, a fellow Florida State alum, in the mid-1980s, according to Bleacher Report.
In a 1997 Sports Illustrated profile, Gabrielle recalled watching Deion transform into his Prime Time persona on their way to a Say No to Drugs function in 1998. “Deion taught me the importance of selling yourself and your sport, and he also taught me that, while it’s OK to have fun along the way, it’s definitely a business,” she told the magazine.
Carolyn Chambers Sanders was Deion’s first wife.
Between 1989 and 1998, Deion was married to Carolyn Chambers Sanders, and they share son Deion Jr. and daughter Deiondra, according to the New York Post.
“He walked up to the car I was sitting in and asked my name,” Carolyn told Sports Illustrated in 1989, recalling their first encounter. “He said his was Prime Time. I said, yeah, I really believe that! … I didn’t give him my phone number, but I called him that week. Our first date, we just talked all night.”
Wife No. 2 was Pilar Sanders.
In 1999, Deion Sanders married Pilar Sanders, with whom he shares sons Shilo and Shedeur and daughter Shelomi, per the Post. The couple split in 2011, kicking off a contentious divorce marked by accusations of infidelity from both sides.
“Sometimes you stay in a thing even when it’s no longer in your best interests,” she told the Daily Mail in 2017, reflecting on the union. “You do it for the children; you do it to keep the family together. It’s a hard thing to pinpoint when that changes. … Life happens in a marriage, it’s ups and downs. But you just finally come to a point where enough is enough.”
Until their split, Tracey Edmonds was set to become Deion’s third wife.
In their joint Facebook message, Tracey and Deion asked supporters to keep them in their prayers as they navigated the end of their three-year engagement and decade-plus relationship, per People. “Thank you for being there for us all these years! We love you and appreciate you so much!”
Deion added his own message in a comment, People reports. “Love you, Tracey, and you’ve been a true blessing to me,” he wrote. “I appreciate the times we’ve shared and [the] laughs we’ve had. You are an amazing woman and a tremendous mother. God bless you with every endeavor and every step you take.”
