Deepfake porn row rocks Germany as TV presenter accuses ex-husband

A case gripping Germany has thrust one of its best-known television personalities into the spotlight, with Collien Fernandes telling thousands of protesters in Hamburg that she now wears a bulletproof vest due to death threats.

“I’m standing here with a bulletproof vest under police protection… because men want to kill me,” she said.

Pornographic deepfakes 

The controversy erupted after Fernandes, who is 44, accused her ex-husband Christian Ulmen of distributing pornographic deepfakes of her online, allegations first reported by German magazine Der Spiegel.

Ulmen has strongly denied the claims and has not been charged. His lawyers, Christian Schertz and Simon Bergmann, said he has never “produced and/or distributed deepfake videos of Fernandes or any other individuals. Any such claims are false”. They maintain the dispute is unrelated to the broader legal debate in Germany over deepfake pornography.

Germany’s law and order

Beyond the personal dispute, however, the controversy has exposed growing anger over what campaigners describe as serious gaps in Germany’s criminal laws on non-consensual deepfake content.

A group of 250 women from politics, business and culture has issued a list of demands, including the explicit criminalisation of producing and distributing sexualised deepfakes without consent.

More from World

Pakistan and Egypt hold high-level bilateral talks ahead of quadrilateral summit in Islamabad Thousands join ‘No Kings’ rallies across US and Europe to protest Trump

The group includes figures such as Barbel Bas, rapper Ikkimel and climate activist Luisa Neubauer.

Pornographic deepfakes - a criminal offence

Responding to the pressure, Justice Minister Stefanie Hubig has proposed legal changes that would make both the creation and distribution of pornographic deepfakes a specific criminal offence, punishable by up to two years in prison.

Under current law, only the dissemination of such material may be penalised if it violates an individual’s right to their own image.

Fernandes has described the personal toll of the alleged abuse, claiming Ulmen confessed to her on Christmas Day 2024.

“It was like receiving news of a death,” she told Der Spiegel. “I couldn’t speak, I couldn’t cry.”

Investigation underway 

Her allegations are being contested in ongoing legal proceedings. Ulmen’s lawyer has argued that key claims reported publicly are “demonstrably incomplete and incorrect”.

Fernandes has also filed a complaint in Spain, where the couple previously lived, citing stronger protections under gender-based violence laws. She has described Germany as a “paradise for perpetrators” in this context.

Quick Reads

View All

Pakistan and Egypt hold high-level bilateral talks ahead of quadrilateral summit in Islamabad

Thousands join ‘No Kings’ rallies across US and Europe to protest Trump

There is no dispute that Fernandes has been targeted by AI-generated pornographic material circulating online, and she has previously spoken about online abuse in a 2024 ZDF documentary.

Structural violence against women 

A prior investigation in Germany into unknown suspects was closed last year due to lack of evidence, but authorities in Itzehoe have now reopened the case following the new allegations, noting that the presumption of innocence applies.

Opposition voices, including Clara Bünger, pushed back. “Whoever points as a reflex to immigration in violence against women, downplays structural violence instead of fighting it,” she said.

Official data shows non-German nationals are over-represented among suspects in domestic violence cases, though detailed breakdowns remain limited. At the same time, police statistics indicate that the number of female victims of violence — both online and offline — reached a record high in Germany in 2024.