Black lipstick-wearing wife's scorched earth divorce plot to destroy husband FAILS after she shared private texts so nasty he ended up losing his job

By NIC WHITE, US SENIOR INVESTIGATIONS REPORTER Published: 16:46, 21 August 2026 | Updated: 16:49, 21 August 2026 A school counselor has failed in a bid to wrestle her two children away from her cop ex-husband whom she claimed would 'poison' them with his racist views  Alana Kennedy and Arkansas State Police trooper Michael Austin Kennedy traded outlandish accusations in dueling divorce court filings earlier this year. She demanded full custody of their children - but in a huge climbdown, has agreed to share custody with Austin, despite painting him as a danger to them. The decree of divorce handed down in the Saline Circuit Court this month split custody down the middle with each parent having the children for alternating weeks.  Austin will owe hundreds a month in child support, but far less than his ex-wife likely expected if her original demands were met. The bitter custody battle turned so nasty that Austin was forced to resign after his wife dumped dozens of texts exposing his racism into court documents. Each filing by the pair included reams of texts aimed at painting the other as the worst possible partner and parent in a scorched earth race to the bottom. Austin, 32, accused his former flame of trying to deny him custody of their two children, Aaron and Alivia, and gain huge child support to maintain a 'lavish lifestyle.' Arkansas State Police trooper Austin Kennedy and his wife Alana (right) with Austin's parents Mike and Janai Kennedy and their son Aaron. Alana and Austin exchanged nasty court filings in their divorce case Some of the message had photos of arrested minority suspects, including a photo of three troopers posing with a handcuffed man, captioned 'this is the better trophy pic' His school counselor wife, 33, in turn branded him a 'white supremacist' she feared would 'poison the minds' of their children with his bigotry. Dozens of texts where Austin used slurs to demean Latinos and black, Indian, Muslim and LGBTQ people were included in her filings to back up her claim. Alana earlier threatened to release these texts, along with others about Austin's drug use, if he didn't quietly sign over sole custody of Aaron and Alivia to her.  The vicious back-and-forth abruptly stopped in May when the Daily Mail revealed the saga, and the pair have since reached a 'compromise settlement to their differences' that is a far cry from Alana's demands. The warring ex-couple will get the kids on alternating years for every holiday except Alana getting every Mother's Day and Austin every Father's Day. They must make children available for all family events regardless of who has custody that day, and can take the kids on holidays of up the seven days in a row. Should they be unable to care for the children during their week, they must offer to let each other look after them before asking anyone else or hiring a babysitter. One concession to Alana was that she has the final say if she and Austin disagree about health or education decisions. Alana (far right) branded Austin a 'white supremacist' she feared would 'poison the minds' of their children with his bigotry and accused Mike (far left) of helping Austin harass her Texts included in Austin's May 7 motion for contempt showed Alana warning him that embarrassing correspondence could come to light if he didn't give up custody Austin accused his former flame of trying to deny him custody of their two children, Aaron and Alivia, and gain huge child support to maintain a 'lavish lifestyle' Otherwise they 'shall jointly make any decisions regarding the minor children and shall confer with each other before any decisions are made'. No corporal punishment of the kids was allowed unless in the case of 'serious or repeated disobedience'. 'Neither party shall make disparaging or unkind remarks about the other person, or permit other people to make unkind remarks when the children are present' under threat of contempt of court, the decree warned.  A mutual restraining order remains in effect and includes any contact with either party's employer. All contact between them must be through AppClose - an app designed specifically for court-ordered communication between warring exes. Each party would be allowed one phone call with the kids per day of up to 15 minutes during weeks they didn't have custody. Aaron has a BarkWatch - a watch that tracks a child's location and has built-in communication features - and calls should be made using that, the decree stated. Despite being forced to quit the Arkansas State Police, Austin's new job - details of which have not been disclosed - pays significantly more than his ex-wife's. His income is $7,083 a month, with Alana's at $4,695 a month, meaning Austin must pay $882 a month in child support, which includes his share of daycare costs.  This will drop to $337 once Aaron and Alivia were out of daycare. Austin is allowed to buy Alana out of the four-bedroom house in Bauxite, Arkansas, they bought for $375,000 last December  Alana responded to his efforts to hold her in contempt of court with dozens of messages between them where he berated her about child support Even if Austin failed to pay child support, the divorce decree banned Alana from canceling his custodial time. The former couple will evenly divide all of the children's costs including medical, insurance, and education.   Austin is allowed to buy Alana out of the four-bedroom house in Bauxite, Arkansas, they bought for $375,000 last December - less than four months before Alana filed for divorce - and continue making mortgage payments.  The pair have already divided their property other than Alana needing to collect a grill and climbing dome from the marital home. They each keep their own car. Austin claimed he didn't have any police retirement benefits but if it later emerges that he does, Alana was entitled to half of any earned during the marriage. Alana said during her deposition that she wanted a divorce because 'we cannot get along, and we continue to argue and disagree to the point that we could no longer live together as man and wife'. She went to great lengths in her now-failed attempt to secure sole custody that she warned Austin that embarrassing correspondence could come to light if he didn't give up custody. In texts Austin's lawyers filed with the court, she demanded to have the children full time with him only allowed visitation every second weekend, and insisted he would have to pay child support. 'But know that I am fully prepared to share whatever screenshots I have and I do not care if they end up on courtconnect for all the world to see if you don't agree to my terms,' she wrote in one message. Alana also indicated that discovery for the case could reveal his alleged history of drug use. 'Would probably not be great for you if ASP found out you lied about that in your application,' she wrote. Austin claimed she was trying to get full custody of their children so she could demand more child support, which he called 'pure, Satanic evil' He continued in another: 'Why can't I just support my children? I knew it. Mommy is about to live a lavish lifestyle. Funded by 3 different men' Austin writing sarcastically about the New Year's Eve 2025 terrorist attack Austin since claims to have had a Damascene conversion and disavowed his racist and homophobic past, insisting that Christianity had changed him as a person The next day she asked if he'd had 'a chance to think about whether you want your history of drug use coming out in court?' Alana later released reams of racist messages including photos of arrested minority suspects, such as a photo of three troopers posing with a handcuffed man, captioned 'this is the better trophy pic'.  He described the man arrested as a 'spic', a racist term used to describe a Hispanic person that would appear frequently in texts he sent to his estranged wife.   Austin resigned just two days later amid an internal affairs investigation and public shaming by local media, which he claimed in court documents was all part of Alana's plan.