A Tiktok personality from North Carolina has been forced to pay $1.75 million after her manager's wife sued her for having an affair with her husband.
Brenay Kennard — who has 2.9 million followers on TikTok and 274,000 on Instagram — was sued in May 2024. The lawsuit alleges that Kennard was sleeping with her manager, Tim Montague.
The plaintiff, Akira Montague, alleges that Kennard "engaged in behavior designed to seduce" her husband and "flaunted her affair and romantic relationship ... in public and private places."
It further claims that the affair resulted in Akira's husband leaving her and their children for Kennard, depriving their family of a two-parent home, WRAL reports.
Kennard was sued for both alienation of affection — when someone is sued for breaking up a marriage — and criminal conversation, in which one party sues another for sleeping with their spouse.
North Carolina is one of the few states that allows spouses to sue someone for interfering in their marriage.
On November 10, a jury ruled that Kennard was liable for both counts. She was ordered to pay $1.5 million for the alienation of affection accusation, and $250,000 for the criminal conversation ruling.
Kennard does not face any criminal charges related to the case.
The TikTok influencer insisted after the verdict that Akira had given her consent to the affair and "knew" her marraige was ending anyway.
"She gave her consent," Kennard told the outlet. "She said it was okay because she knew her marriage was over with, and it was done."
Akira's lawyer, Robonetta Jones, told WRAL that her client finally has justice.
"She has received justice from losing her husband and the father of her children," Jones said.
It's not unheard of for alienation of affection cases to net plaintiffs millions.
In 2011, a court ruled that a woman had to pay Carol Puryear, whose ex-husband owned a trucking company, $30 million for causing her marriage to end.
In 2018, NFL player Fletcher Cox was sued by a man named Joshua Jeffords, who claimed the player had an affair with his wife. That lawsuit ended with an undisclosed settlement agreement.
