NEED TO KNOW
Akon has responded to his estranged wife’s divorce filing.
According to court documents obtained by PEOPLE, Akon, born Aliaune Badara Thiam, has filed a response after his estranged wife Tomeka Thiam initially filed for divorce back in September.
In his response, Akon asks for joint legal and physical custody of their 17-year-old daughter, Journey. He also asked the court not to award his estranged wife any spousal support.
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Tomeka had previously filed for sole legal custody and requested that she have physical custody of their teenage daughter, with Akon getting visitation. At the time, she requested spousal support and asked the court not to award the “Smack That” singer any spousal support.
Akon and Tomeka married in 1996. She filed for divorce from the musician back in September, just four days before what would have been their 29th wedding anniversary.
In the past, Akon has said he believes in polygamy, and in a 2022 interview on The Zeze Mills Show, revealed that he has nine children. Musician Amirror alleged in 2023 that she was one of the star’s four wives.
“[Polygamy is] part of our culture. Absolutely,” Akon said on Zeze Millz. “For me, it looks normal, because it’s culture for us. We didn’t go outside of our African culture when we got to the Western world. See, the flaw that the Western world made is they created all these rules without putting nature into account.”
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The singer said he was “there for” all nine of his children, and that he considered it his job “to raise my kids to be responsible, to be understanding” and to “protect their mother.”
“My job ain’t to be doing all that extra stuff and these holidays and recitals. While I’m taking care of my responsibility to make sure the family has a roof over their head and food, if I have the time to do that and show love, yes, I will do that,” he said. “Communication allows me to be there every day. That’s what my FaceTime phone is for.”
In Amirror’s interview with Rie Wit the Tea, she said Akon’s wives are spread out, including in Atlanta, Los Angeles and Africa.
“We all have different households, we all have different lifestyles,” she said. “We don’t have to see each other so we don’t have to be cool with each other… Akon is the type of man [where] it’s not manipulation, it’s just, if you f— with it [or] you don’t. This is our culture… Every woman wants to be the only one, and it’s okay.”
