I felt numb – not sure what to do. How did deepfake images of me end up on a porn site?

I hadn't ever had cause to think about how manipulated online content could impact my life. Then, one winter morning, someone knocked at my door ...

Helen Mort's experiences form the subject of a new Guardian documentary, My Blonde GF. Watch it here

There was an insistent knock at the door. This in itself was startling - it was the winter of 2020 and we hadn't yet returned to socialising indoors after lockdown. I wasn't expecting visitors. When I answered, I was surprised to see a male acquaintance of mine. He said he needed to speak to me. I knew it was something unprecedented because he asked to come in. He told me to sit down. That's when the adrenaline started coursing through me - people only suggest that when they're about to deliver bad news. My two-year-old son was at nursery and my first instinct was that something terrible must have happened to him. I could feel my heart thundering in my ribcage.

I don't remember the exact words my friend used. But I can recall the gist of it and his obvious discomfort. What he told me was stranger than I could ever have imagined. He said that he had encountered images of me on a porn site: manipulated, faked images, my face on other bodies, galleries of pictures uploaded by someone who claimed to be my boyfriend. I didn't know how to react. I had my arms very close to my sides and I was gripping the edge of the sofa. I was utterly confused - I'd never shared any intimate photo of myself with anyone. How had I ended up in DIY porn?