Akon’s Wife Files for Divorce After 29 Years of Marriage

Akon‘s wife Tomeka Thiam has filed for divorce, just shy of the couple’s 29th wedding anniversary.

Thiam cites irreconcilable differences as the reason behind the divorce, in documents obtained by Billboard. (TMZ first reported the news.)

Of Akon’s nine children, according to the documents, the couple share one minor child — a 17-year-old daughter named Journey — and Thiam is seeking joint legal custody and sole physical custody of the teen. She’s also seeking spousal support and is trying to get the court to block Akon from receiving any from her.

According to the filing, Akon (legal name: Aliaune Badara Thiam) and Tomeka Thiam have been married since Sept. 15, 1996 — meaning the filing comes just days ahead of their 29th wedding anniversary.

Billboard has reached out to Akon’s team for further commentAkon’s wife Tomeka Thiam has filed for divorce, just shy of the couple’s 29th wedding anniversary.

A couple of years ago, while sitting down with DJ Vlad, the subject of how many wives and children Akon has was brought up, but the Senegalese artist only confirmed that he had nine children.

“I have seven boys and two girls,” he told Vlad before joking that he enjoys the public’s curiosity around his love life. “I’mma let it stay a rumor. I like this. I like the fact that people are guessing now, I love it. I’m not confirming nor denying. You go online, you may see nine, you might see seven, you might see four. I love it, though.”

In other Akon news, he said earlier this year that he’s planning to remix his entire catalog into country songs. “I’m actually redoing my whole catalog in country,” Akon told TMZ. “I’m not even joking… This has been an idea for years like forever. The project has been in motion for the last five years. But starting next month, y’all gonna start seeing all the releases.”

He added: “They’re country artists featuring me. They’re the ones performing them.”