Brenay Kennard was determined to be romantically involved with the husband of her friend, Akira Montague. By all accounts, she won the heart of Tim Montague and became his de facto wife. To define what “by all accounts” means here, she posted numerous videos bragging about the relationship to her millions of followers on her TikTok and Instagram accounts. For social media personalities like Kennard, the details of their lives are content.
To those with a legal bone to pick, those details can also prove to be extremely damning evidence.
Kennard found out the hard way that the state of North Carolina is one of the few jurisdictions that still recognize torts for criminal conversation and alienation of affection, as evidenced by the $1.75 million in damages awarded by a Durham County Superior Court judge and jury to Akira Montigue in a civil lawsuit on November 10, 2025. The Instagram and TikTok influencer may be one step closer to her dream of being the next Mrs. Montague, but it’s proving to be a rather expensive journey.
Not a Capulet To Be Seen
With an estimated 40% to 50% of first marriages in the U.S. not surviving, it doesn’t take much for nuptial hopes and dreams to end in divorce. It certainly doesn’t help when people outside the marriage are actively trying to hasten its demise, and even worse when they are social media influencers who allegedly post their efforts for the world to see.
Akira and Timothy Montague were married in 2018. Two children followed over the next three years. Despite some bumpy periods, Akira had no reason to believe she’d be on her way to becoming an ex-wife by 2024, nor an inkling that the greatest threat to her marriage was one of her closest friends. Kennard was married to Tim Montague’s cousin, and as a result, the four spent time together socializing. Tim also works as a Sales Manager for Kennard, handling her career as an influencer.
According to the lawsuit, Kennard became privy to intimate details of the relationship between Akira and Tim. Akira claimed that Kennard used this knowledge of the marriage as a guideline for seducing and stealing Montague’s husband. She accused the content creator of flaunting the alleged affair with a married man in daily life videos on her Instagram and TikTok accounts. Akira stated that the illicit encounters began in December 2023, with Tim and Kennard having sex in the marital home. By January 2024, Kennard was reportedly bragging about the sex she was having with Tim and offering details that included the size of his genitals and sharing their racy text messages. Kennard also stands accused of portraying Akira as the bad person in the scenario to her followers, with predictable results.
With the vitriol of Kennard’s online supporters directed her way, Akira received enough death threats to force her to serve Kennard with a cease and desist letter. Akira and Tim separated in February of 2024, with her former husband having already left the marital home and moved into a townhouse with Kennard. Identifying Kennard’s action and behavior as clear examples of criminal conversation and alienation of affection cases, Akira filed a civil suit against the influencer in May 2024.
Location, Location, Location
Outside of residents in the handful of states that still allow these torts and the law school students who receive a brief overview during class, few are aware that such statutes still exist. If Kennard had known about either North Carolina’s alienation of affection law or its criminal conversation statute, she might not have been as brazen as Akira accused her of being. In simple terms, criminal conversation is the offense of committing adultery with someone else’s spouse. When invoked, it’s often paired with alienation of affection, which charges that there was love and affection in a marriage that was subsequently eradicated by the affair.
Akira’s lawsuit claimed that Kennard’s campaign to take Tim away from her ultimately destroyed her marriage and sought to hold her accountable. Kennard, who (sigh) represented herself, argued that the marriage had long been on shaky ground and that the plaintiff’s husband had never loved her. She insisted Akira’s claims were just lies from a spurned woman. Her version of what happened fell on deaf ears in the jury, who needed only an hour and a half of deliberations before ruling against her.
Given the sizable award, videos showing Kennard filing an appeal are likely to become a trending topic on her social media accounts soon. No word yet as to whether she’ll hire professional legal assistance the next time around.
Related Resources
- 39 Lashes: Is Adultery a Crime in New Hampshire? (Findlaw’s Legally Weird)
- Kelley Wolf’s Arrest During Divorce Shows the Cost of Disobeying Court Orders (FindLaw’s Legally Weird)
- Mistakes To Avoid in a Do-It-Yourself Divorce (FindLaw’s Divorce Law)
