Princess Märtha Louise denies pregnancy rumours as AI-altered photos spread online

Princess Märtha Louise of Norway has denied that she and her husband, Durek Verrett, are expecting a child. Her manager said the claims are false and that the pictures behind them were altered using artificial intelligence (AI), software that can create or change images.

The fake pictures show two scenes. One shows the princess with an apparent baby bump. The other shows the couple smiling while holding a baby scan, the ultrasound image parents often receive. Hello! Magazine reported that the posts appeared on two newly created Facebook pages, "Aktuelt Nå" and "Aktuelt Puls", and were written in Norwegian and German.

Carina Scheele Carlsen, who acts as the princess's manager and spokesperson, told the Norwegian broadcaster TV 2 that false claims and manipulated images are being shared on social media. She said the household is treating them seriously and following them up. Some of the fake posts have since been taken down. Meta, the company that owns Facebook, said it is looking into the matter.

Princess Märtha Louise is 55. She is the mother of three daughters from her marriage to the author Ari Behn, who died in 2019. The couple's public life has been the subject of heavy online attention in recent months. In October, The Guardian reported that the princess and Mr Verrett had launched a defamation lawsuit in Los Angeles. Defamation is the legal term for false statements that harm a person's reputation. The couple described what they called a "coordinated series of devastating public attacks."

Fake pictures of public figures are a growing problem, and they are often easy to spread because they look convincing at a glance. A reverse image search, which checks where else a picture appears online, is one simple way to test a photo before sharing it. Checking whether the original post came from a trusted news outlet or from the person named in it can also help.

The princess has not commented personally on the images. Her manager's statement is the household's response so far.