A North Carolina jury has ordered a US TikTok influencer, Brenay Kennard to pay $1.75 million [Ksh 227.2 million], after finding that her relationship with her married manager, contributed to the breakdown of his marriage.

The verdict, handed down in November, awarded the man’s ex-wife, Akira Montague, $1.75 million in damages, $1.5 million for alienation of affection and $250,000 for criminal conversation, after a trial that drew intense online attention and testimony about the couple’s private life.

The civil suit, originally filed in May 2024, accused Kennard, a content creator with nearly 3 million followers on TikTok, of befriending Akira Montague to gain information about the husband, Timothy Montague, to pursue and seduce him.

According to the complaint and testimony presented at the Durham County courthouse, the relationship included flirtatious behavior, suggestive messages and meetings that took place while Timothy was still married, actions Akira said left her emotionally devastated and deprived her children of a two-parent household.

The case revived one of the rarer relics of Anglo-American jurisprudence: North Carolina’s remaining torts for “alienation of affection” and “criminal conversation,” legal claims that allow a spouse to seek damages from a third party believed to have interfered in a marriage.

Such lawsuits are now possible in only a handful of U.S. states, which helped explain why the trial captured wide media coverage beyond the region and why the seven-figure judgment made headlines around the world.

Kennard vigorously denied that she had unlawfully sabotaged the marriage and criticized the verdict as unfair. She told reporters and followers that the jury’s decision did not reflect the full context and that she would continue to fight the ruling.

Timothy Montague, who later formed a relationship with Kennard and left his marriage, testified during the proceedings, and public reactions on social platforms were sharply divided: some users argued the husband bore responsibility for his choices, while others sided with Akira and praised the award as recognition of the emotional harm she suffered.

Legal commentators note that while alienation-of-affection claims are civil rather than criminal, they hinge on proving that a third party’s conduct was intentional and directly caused the loss of affection between spouses, a high bar that the jury in this trial found Kennard had met.

The ruling has set off renewed conversation online about accountability, the power of social media relationships, and whether such torts remain appropriate in the modern era.

For Akira Montague, the verdict was described by her lawyer as an affirmation of the harm she says the relationship caused her family. For Kennard, the decision is a costly legal setback that may be appealed or otherwise challenged in the weeks ahead.