Akira Montague sued Brenay Kennard, a popular TikTok creator, under the state’s alienation of affection law. Akira Montague claimed Kennard intentionally destroyed her marriage to Tim Montague, who was at the time serving as Kennard’s manager. The North Carolina jury ordered her to pay $1.75 million to her manager’s ex-wife after shocking details were recorded in a detailed lawsuit.
According to the lawsuit, Akira claimed that while she was still married to Tim Montague (who was also Brenay’s manager), Brenay started flirting with him and eventually had an affair. Akira said Brenay used their friendship to get close to Tim and that the affair caused their divorce.
Akira discovered the affair in 2024 when she saw a video of Kennard and her husband, Tim, together in her own home. She claimed the influencer’s actions led to Tim’s emotional withdrawal and financial secrecy, which ultimately ended their marriage.
According to The Irish Star, Brenay Kennard had a deliberate motive to get closer to Tim, which was to create problems between the two, and she did that by using seduction as a way. The complaint accused Kennard of “engaging in behavior designed to seduce” him, including wearing revealing clothing, flirting, and sending suggestive messages.
#Soulmates 👀 It looks like North Carolina TikTok influencer #BrenayKennard will have to pay up after being sued by her husband’s ex-wife for alienation of affection.
According to @WRAL, a jury ordered Kennard to pay $1.75 million after finding her liable for allegedly having ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/FvLURHV0qg
— FOX SOUL (@foxsoultv) November 12, 2025
The two reportedly also exchanged explicit messages, used her online popularity and discussed getting married and having children. A jury found Kennard liable for both criminal conversation (a term for adultery under North Carolina law) and alienation of affection.
The jury ordered Kennard to pay $250,000 for criminal conversation and $1.5 million for alienation of affection. The incident also caused health problems for Akira, and her children suffered.
Meanwhile, both Brenay Kennard and Tim Montague have vigorously defended their stance, calling it “outrageous” and “all about the money.” In a statement to PEOPLE, she said, “The truth will always be the truth, and it’s easy to believe lies when someone plays the victim. [Akira] may have won the battle, but not the war. God will have the final say.”
Tim Montague also defended his new wife as he tried to blame Akira for allegedly trying to avoid accountability. “It’s easy to paint someone as the villain when you don’t want to face the truth. That marriage wasn’t full of love — all parties know that. God will get the glory.” He added, “She gave her consent”, as she knew the marriage was reportedly over.
TikTok star #BrenayKennard had Durham County courtroom SHOOK after asking a wild question about a miscarriage during her own alienation of affection trial and Akira Montague wasn’t here for it. pic.twitter.com/eCxCJJV0uh
— The North Carolina Beat (@TheNCBeat) November 7, 2025
Alienation of affection is a common-law tort that allows a spouse to sue a third party for knowingly destroying a union. It does not always require an affair or acts of intimacy for it to be considered under the law. It allows a spouse to seek damages from the third party for intentionally causing the loss of the other spouse’s affection, love, and companionship, in a general manner.
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While 4 out of 50 states in America have dismissed this law, some states like North Carolina, New Mexico, Hawaii, South Dakota, etc, still strictly follow it. As per sources, under this particular law, in 2018, NFL player Fletcher Cox faced a lawsuit from Joshua Jeffords of North Carolina, who accused the athlete of having an affair with his wife.
Similarly, in 2021, former state senator Rick Gunn reached a $3 million settlement with Arthur Johns, who alleged that Gunn had engaged in a long-term affair with his wife, who also worked as Gunn’s legislative assistant.
