"You raped me virtually": For 10 years, her husband published sexual "deepfakes" of her likeness, the horrifying case that is shaking Germany

German television presenter Collien Fernandes has filed a lawsuit against her ex-husband, Christian Ulmen, who for 10 years published sexually explicit "deepfakes" of her online without her consent. The case has shaken Germany and reignited the debate on online violence against women, which is still rarely punished.

This is the case that has rocked Germany regarding sexist and sexual violence. TV presenter and model Collien Fernandes announced on Thursday, March 19, that she had filed a lawsuit against her ex-husband, Christian Ulmen, for "assault, identity theft, and defamation," after he generated hundreds of sexually explicit deepfakes of her image over a period of about ten years. The weekly magazine Der Spiegel published a lengthy investigation into the case on Saturday.

Collien Fernandes, 44, had been with actor and television presenter Christian Ulmen, 50, since 2010. The couple married in June 2011, welcomed a daughter the following year, and were one of the most high-profile couples in the country. They announced their separation in September 2015, which culminated in a divorce this March. Until now, the reasons for their split had not been publicly discussed.

"For years, fake profiles have been created in my name."

But the model spoke out in response to the rumors announcing the German press investigation: "For years, fake profiles were created in my name, someone sent (fake) nude photos and sex videos of me, which seemed private and were meant to give the impression that I had taken the nude photos and filmed myself during sex."

The presenter and actress discovered the existence of this content five years ago after being alerted to the circulation of a pornographic video in which a person resembling her was having sex with a group of men. She made these attacks public in 2023 to denounce the online violence suffered by women. "Even while I was filming a documentary on the subject in 2024, the perpetrator continued their activities until the accounts were suspended by the platforms," she further explained.

"My body was stolen from me for years."

In her post, she describes the creation of fake profiles in her name, the sending of fake sexually explicit photos and videos generated by artificial intelligence, texts calling for her rape, and the hijacking of her voice by AI to create fake phone sex conversations. One of the videos has been viewed more than 270,000 times. She then filed a complaint against persons unknown. "But all this time, the perpetrator was very close. His name: Christian Ulmen." The man she had married 15 years earlier.

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Collien Fernandes claims that her ex-husband confessed to the abuse after she filed a complaint to stop the investigation. According to her statements, he justified his actions by claiming he "owned" his wife. "Because he owned me, he could make me available to other men for sex," she writes. "My body was stolen from me for years."

In an interview with Der Spiegel in December, the woman in her forties recounted the details of the case for over six hours, "downing cans of Red Bull one after another," the German magazine reported. "It was me, I'm the one who did it," he allegedly told his wife on Christmas Day in December 2024, after reading an interview with her in a magazine that mentioned her complaint. The man, who declined to answer the weekly magazine's questions, reportedly became afraid of the legal consequences of his actions at that point.

A complaint has been filed in Spain, a country where deepfakes have already been punished.

Since the couple resided in Spain before their separation, the television personality filed a complaint on the other side of the Pyrenees, a country with particularly advanced legislation on violence against women. Around fifteen minors were convicted by a court in Bajadoz in 2024 after generating and distributing sexually explicit images of some of their classmates. A 40-page brief was filed with the court in Palma de Mallorca, in the Balearic Islands, with the department responsible for prosecuting acts of violence against women. A preliminary investigation has been opened.

The actress has also reported years of psychological and physical abuse at the hands of her ex-husband. Several people close to the couple confirm Collien Fernandes's account, as does her psychologist, who has been treating her for three years. Witnesses to a violent argument that occurred in 2023 near a café in Palma de Mallorca, during which the presenter was allegedly struck, have also corroborated her story. "You virtually raped me," she wrote in a text message to her ex-husband, which was seen by Der Spiegel.

The German magazine did, however, manage to obtain an email from Christian Ulmen, sent during his initial contact with a Berlin law firm. In it, he states that he has "unfortunately developed a sexual fetish" over the past ten years and admits to creating fake social media profiles in his wife's name. "He sent his contacts videos available on freely accessible pornographic websites, featuring subjects who resembled his wife. He describes it as a difficult-to-control impulse, abnormal behavior, and says he regrets what he did," the weekly magazine explains.

A shockwave in Germany

The case has sparked strong reactions in Germany, with a large demonstration in Berlin on Sunday against violence against women. Many protesters carried signs reading "Thank you Collien," "The shame must shift to the perpetrators," and "This is violence, not technology." Between 6,000 and 13,000 people participated in the march, according to figures from authorities and the organizers.

More than 250 female politicians and cultural figures published an opinion piece in Der Spiegel on Monday morning calling for stricter laws against deepfakes and femicides, with ten measures to be implemented urgently to protect victims.

Such acts will be criminalized in the future by a law on digital violence, which will be presented "very soon," said Eike Hosemann, spokesperson for the Ministry of Justice, at a press conference this Friday. "Criminal law is not up to the task, particularly when it comes to deepfakes, but also other issues," he added.