A North Carolina jury ordered a TikTok influencer to pay $1.75 million to her manager’s ex-wife after the woman accused her of sparking the end of their marriage.
Brenay Kennard, who has 2.9 million followers on the app, was sued by her manager’s ex-wife, Akira Montague, under North Carolina’s alienation of affection law. In her complaint, Montague accused Kennard of getting close to her and using information from their friendship to pursue her husband.
Alienation of affection laws allow a spouse to file a lawsuit against a third party if they believe that person caused the other spouse to end their marriage. According to Cornell Law School, cases are typically filed against a person who caused the other spouse to cheat during the time of the marriage.
Tim Montague served as Kennard’s manager and Kennard was married to his cousin, according to the lawsuit.
Kennard, who is in a relationship with Montague, was accused of engaging “in behavior designed to seduce” the married man, including wearing short skirts and bending over in front of him in the attire, verbally flirting with him and “flicking her tongue to expose her tongue rings in a flirtatious manner,” the suit said.
Akira Montague said she confided in Kennard about personal matters, thinking they were friends, such as her husband’s infidelity during one of her pregnancies, the complaint said. She accused Kennard of having “utilized the personal information gained from the friendship to seduce.”
She learned of her husband’s affair with Kennard in January 2024, the suit said, because of a video of the two of them in the couple’s home.
The suit said that Kennard and Tim Montague exchanged “numerous sexual videos and text messages,” and frequently met in the Montagues’ marital home.
Kennard was also accused in the suit of planning and taking trips with the married man, making videos expressing her love for him, and making videos expressing her desire to marry him and have “four to five kids” with him.
Akira Montague said in her suit that her husband began to withdraw emotionally from her as a “direct result” of Kennard’s seduction. The suit alleges that he “began concealing his financial matters and expenses, including hiding the many outings, dates, transactions, and payments” involving Kennard.
“The Defendant has intentionally, wrongfully and unjustifiably interfered with the relationship between the Plaintiff and her Husband,” the suit said.
Akira Montague’s lawsuit described Kennard’s behavior as “malicious, unlawful, willful and wanton.”
Kennard was found liable for engaging in criminal conversation with Tim Montague and alienation of affection during his marriage, according to Monday’s jury decision.
According to the verdict form, the jury found Kennard liable for $250,000 for the criminal conversation claim and awarded another $1.5 million in damages for the alienation of affection claim.
Kennard criticized the jury’s decision, NBC affiliate WRAL reported. She said that Akira Montague gave her consent to the affair, something Montague denied in her lawsuit.
“She said it was okay because she knew her marriage was over with, and it was done,” Kennard said.
