Akon Outlines Policies for His Several Wives in a Polyamorous Partnership.
Mr. Lonely is definitely not Akon. The singer of "Lonely," who had previously been evasive about his polyamorous existence, has now acknowledged that he has several spouses who collaborate to maintain the home and foster harmony.
How many wives does Akon have? In the We Need to Talk podcast episode from May 19, he stated, “I’ll just leave that to your imagination.”
The 53-year-old, whose formal name is Aliaune Badara Thiam, revealed that he is the "only man" in his relationship dynamic, pointing out that his wives are prohibited from having other lovers.
Register for Tekedia Mini-MBA edition 20 (June 8 – Sept 5, 2026).
Register for Tekedia AI in Business Masterclass.
Join Tekedia Capital Syndicate and co-invest in great global startups.
Register for Tekedia AI Lab.
Akon, whose wife Tomeka Thiam filed for divorce in September 2025, after over thirty years of marriage, clarified that there is a hierarchy in his relationship and that all of his spouses must respect his first wife, but he did not say if he meant Tomeka.
“That one is the reason you even got one, two or three. She’s the queen,” he added. “Nobody violates wife No. 1. The moment they violate, [they are] out the door.”
According to Akon, his first wife is “actually sacrificing in the end.”
“With new people [joining] your family, there’s going to be new attitudes, new mindsets, new behaviors,” he continued, “and [the first wife has] to deal with that.”
Nevertheless, the singer of "Smack That" thinks that their polyamorous relationship has benefits for each of his wives.
“Oftentimes when the family is united in that way, the benefit is more for the woman than it is for the man,” he declared, “because the man actually has to take care of all of them. He has to treat them all equally and their responsibility bears on him as well.”
Ultimately, though, Akon claimed that his relationship pattern is successful because it is based on the idea that communication is "the answer and the solution."
“You got to be mature enough to know that if this is the situation that I'm going to park in, I have to communicate,” he disclosed. “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, and this is what I'm not willing to deal with. And once y'all lay down those rules, just abide by them. It's literally that simple.”
Uploaded files: