Akon’s marriage comes with a strict rulebook that his multiple wives are expected to follow.
The 53-year-old rapper, who has lived a polymarous lifestyle for years, said there is a strict code of conduct and hierarchy that his wives are expected to follow to maintain the status quo.
“The moment they violate, [they're] out the door,” he said.
Highlights
- Akon spoke about his married life on a recent episode of the 'We Need to Talk' podcast.
- He said his marriage comes with a strict rulebook that his multiple wives have to follow.
- “The moment they violate, [they’re] out the door,” he said.
- He noted there was a clear hierarchy among the wives, who are expected to treat each other like “sisters.”
Akon’s marriage comes with a strict rulebook that his multiple wives are expected to follow
Image credits: Phillip Faraone/Getty Images
During a recent episode of the We Need to Talk podcast, Akon made it clear that he was the “only man” in his polyamorous relationship.
When asked how many wives were part of the dynamic, he said, “I'll just leave that to your imagination.”
Back in 2023, one of his rumored partners alleged that he had four wives.
Image credits: We Need To Talk
Akon said on the podcast that his wives were not allowed to have multiple partners.
“Only me,” he told host and Married At First Sight icon Paul C Brunson.
He said maintaining his multiple-wife setup had numerous benefits for the women.
The rapper was asked whether his wives were allowed to have multiple partners
Image credits: mekas.world
“Oftentimes when the family is united in that way, the benefit is more for the woman than it is for the man, because the man actually has to take care of all of them,” he said.
“He has to treat them all equally, and their responsibility bears on him as well.”
The rapper, born Alioune Badara Thiam, said communication was the ultimate key to keeping him and his multiple wives happy.
“This I like, this I don't like. This I'm for, this I'm not for, and this is what I'm willing to deal with; this is what I'm not willing to deal with,” he said. “And once y'all lay down those rules, just abide by them. It's literally that simple.”
The Lonely rapper shares at least nine kids with multiple women
Image credits: R A
As per his “rules” for the house, every wife has their own role to play and is expected to treat the other wives like “sisters.”
“They can alternate those roles [in the house] because there’s four of them or five of them or three of them or two of them [wives],” he said.
He explained that the wives can alternate between these roles every now and then, “whether it’s cooking, whether it’s cleaning, whether it’s taking care of the kids.”
And one might even want to take a vacation, he said. But the bottom line was that under his roof, a “woman’s role is managing a household,” he added.
Image credits: Maddie Meyer/Getty Images
The Smack That rapper also explained that there was a certain hierarchy under his roof, with the first wife not only being his emergency contact but also being treated as the queen.
“That one is the reason you even got one, two or three. She's the queen,” he said. “Nobody violates wife No. 1. The moment they violate, [they're] out the door.”
It was unclear whether he was referring to Tomeka Thiam, who filed for divorce from the singer in September 2025 after nearly three decades of marriage, citing “irreconcilable differences.”
He has also been linked with Tricia Ana, Rosina Bruck, and Amirah-Iman, but the nature of most of the relationships has not been confirmed.
There is a clear hierarchy among the wives, who are expected to treat each other like “sisters” under his roof
Image credits: mrskellypittman
The first wife was the one “sacrificing in the end,” because there would be “new attitudes, new mindsets, [and] new behaviors” with every new person that joins the “family.”
“And the [first wife has] to deal with that,” he added.
The Lonely singer said during a 2022 appearance on the Zeze Millz Show that he had fathered nine children with multiple women. He also said his home country, Senegal, saw polygamy as an extremely normal practice.
Image credits: We Need To Talk
“[Polygamy is] part of our culture. Absolutely,” he 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,” he continued. “See, the flaw that the Western world made is they created all these rules without putting nature into account.”
The artist from Senegal explained what being a father means to him
Image credits: akon
When it came to fatherhood, he said he was always there for his kids and believed it was his duty to raise them “to be responsible” and “understanding,” whilst also protecting their mother.
“My job ain't to be doing all that extra stuff and these holidays and recitals,” he went on to say.
“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.
He went on to say that “communication allows [him] to be there every day,” and that’s what his “FaceTime phone is for.”
Polyamorous relationships generally refer to consensual, non-monogamous dynamics where all partners are aware of and agree to multiple romantic or s*xual connections.
In Senegal, however, relationships with multiple partners are more commonly seen in the form of polygyny, where one man has multiple wives, rather than modern polyamory.
Polygamy affects 35.5% of married people, more in rural areas (39.4%) than in urban areas (32.2%), according to the ANSD (Agence Nationale de la Statistique et de la Démographie) statistical report on marital status and marriage in Senegal, based on the 2023 GPHR-5 (General Population and Housing Census).
“Okay, deleting all his songs from my playlists,” one commented online
