Singer Akon’s wife Tomeka Thiam has filed for divorce four days ahead of their 29th wedding anniversary, according to US media reports.
Tomeka filed papers for divorce from the musician on September 11, citing “irreconcilable differences”. The date of separation in the documents has been listed as “TBD”.
The couple shares one child, a 17-year-old daughter named Journey.
Tomeka has requested for joint custody of their daughter, but has asked for her physical custody, with visitation rights for Akon. Other important takeaways from the publication include spousal support from her husband and the court refraining from granting the singer any spousal support, People reported.
Akon has expressed his belief in polygamy. During a 2022 interview on The Zeze Mills Show, the Smack That singer 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 the show.. “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.”
The Don’t Matter 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,” he added.