Pornhub tycoon Bernd Bergmair’s wife says he should think of the ‘children’ amid criticism of site

The glamorous model wife of billionaire Pornhub tycoon Bernd Bergmair has today made an extraordinary public put down of her husband’s site, as she urged him to think of the children who could be exposed to explicit videos.

Brazilian fashion blogger Priscila Bergmair said she ‘really hopes’ her elusive porn baron husband will sever ties with the sex video website that his company owns.

Mr Bergmair, 52, is a majority owner of Montreal-based porn firm MindGeek, the company behind Pornhub.

The site, which boasts 120million visitors a day across the world and has more online traffic than Netflix and Amazon, has been come under criticism over abusive content such as videos of rape and ‘revenge porn’. 

Priscila, who regularly posts about her glamorous jet-setting life as a model on her now-hidden Instagram page, also called on Governments to make more rules about accessing online content.

Brazilian fashion blogger Priscila Bergmair (pictured) said she ‘really hopes’ her elusive porn baron husband will sever ties with the sex video website that his company owns

Priscila (pictured), who regularly posts about her glamorous jet-setting life as a model on her now-hidden Instagram page, also called on Governments to make more rules about accessing online content

Priscila (pictured), who regularly posts about her glamorous jet-setting life as a model on her now-hidden Instagram page, also called on Governments to make more rules about accessing online content

Bernd Bergmair: The elusive billionaire porn baron who is increasingly coming under the spotlight

He is the head of a massive online empire which makes money from videos of an act many consider private.

But unlike the world-famous pornographic models his website provides a platform for, Austrian-born porn baron Bernd Bergmair is himself a private man.

Little is known about his life and few pictures of him exist on the internet.

What is known about the 52-year-old is that he is incredibly rich – a billionaire – as the majority owner of MindGeek.

The firm, based in Canada, is thought to be worth £1.2billion – and may now be worth £2billion according to the Sunday Times.

It owns porn website Pornhub, which boasts around 120million visits a day, along with RedTube and YouPorn.

The company posts revenues of around £325million-a-year.

It is not clear where Bergmair lives. 

While is company is based in Montreal, Bernd is said to be an Austrian national.

However, some reports suggest he now lives in China.

Last week, Tortoise media tracked him down to London.

He was found to be living in a mansion on one of the capital’s richest streets – where houses often cost £30million or more.

He is also married to Brazilian model Priscila Bergmair, who blogs about her experience online and often posts about her jet-setting life-style on Instagram.

But despite the size of his website – which has more traffic that Netflix and Amazon – his own existence online is incredibly minimal.

Earlier this month a report found just three Google search hits on Bergmair’s name – two of which were court filings in the early 2010s and the other an investigation by the Financial Times. 

Until recently there was just one photograph of him online – a photograph from old university alumni magazine. 

Interest in Bergmair’s life has significantly increased in recent months, following calls to combat abusive content on his porn websites.

The company last year banned video downloads from Pornhub and now only accepts content from verified users who have had their identities verified.

But the company, and Bergmair as it’s majority shareholder, continues to face scrutiny.

In February this year politicians in Canada held a two-hour Q&A with top executives of MindGeek where they called on the firm to turn over financial and tax records amid criticism over abusive content.

And earlier this month more than 700 victims’ advocates and survivors of sexual exploitation have sent a letter to the US Congress, urging lawmakers to launch a criminal investigation into Pornhub and MindGeek.

In December, MindGeek cracked down on its unverified users following a newspaper report claiming it was profiting from abusive content – including child exploitation.

Priscila – speaking from her multimillion-pound West London home – insisted that her husband knew nothing about any alleged wrongdoing on the site.

However the model told The Sunday Times: ‘Everyone wants the best to be done. 

‘Because people have children. I have children now. So I don’t want children, you know … none of us want that. We all want things to be right.’

Priscila, a mother-of-three, has previously spoken about own experiences of being a model. 

Writing in a blog, she said a photographer pushed her to pose for sexual photographs when she wasn’t comfortable doing so. 

The images left her feeling ashamed and she asked for her name to be taken off his website. But the photos had already been shared widely online.   

She said: ‘Because he (the photographer) was doing a free shoot, he kept pushing me to do more and more sexy poses and trying to get me topless. 

‘In the end, the pictures were great, but I was ashamed of them, because they were so sexy.  

‘I asked the photographer to remove my name from his website, even though they are some of the best pictures I have ever done. 

‘It was useless, because by the time he removed my name, the pictures went viral and it’s very easy to find them everywhere.’

In the blog post Priscila also talked about the ups-and-downs of the industry, saying the upside was working with ‘talented and creative’ people, travelling the world and attending glamourous celeb-filled parties.

But she said the downsides included sexual harassment, ‘jealous’ girls, anorexia and pushy agents.

‘I have worked as a model for many years,’ she said in her blog.

‘It was very different from the supermodel lifestyle you see on TV. 

‘There are a handful of supermodels that become celebrity and live a life that is far from the reality that most models experience.’

She continued: ‘One of the worst things for me is being compared with prostitutes, or being called stupid. That’s really common.’

Her husband’s firm MindGeek is facing an FBI investigation after 132 sexual exploitation survivors called on the bureau to probe claims of sex trafficking breaches. 

Alongside Pornhub, MindGeek, also owns porn sites RedTube and YouPorn. The company is thought to be worth £1.2billion, with revenues in the region of £325million a year. Mr Bergamir is the majority stakeholder of MindGeek. 

Pornhub – which attracted 42 billion views in 2019 – said that it doesn’t knowingly allow images of sexual abuse of children.

But it was forced to remove more than 10 million unverified videos – the majority of its content following a report by the New York Times.

Even after the videos were flagged and removed, downloaded copies continued to circulate, often with severe personal consequences, the paper said. 

Credit card companies Visa, Mastercard and Discover have since blocked their customers from making purchases on Pornhub. 

Pornhub (pictured library image) - which attracted 42 billion views in 2019 - said that it doesn't knowingly allow images of sexual abuse of children. Last year the company limited uploads to just verified users

Pornhub (pictured library image) – which attracted 42 billion views in 2019 – said that it doesn’t knowingly allow images of sexual abuse of children. Last year the company limited uploads to just verified users

The firm responded last year by banning downloads from the site. They also stopped videos being posted by unverified users.

It means only people who have been verified by the site – known as ‘content creators’ – will be able to post content. 

The company says it will also be releasing its first transparency report in 2021, outlining the results of moderation from the previous year.

In a statement in December 2020 the company said that ‘every online platform has the moral responsibility’ to join in the fight against depictions of child sexual abuse or non-consensual activity.

MailOnline has contacted Pornhub for a comment.  The findings of the Tortoise investigation are to be released as part of a podcast called Hunt for the Porn King, which is set to be released tomorrow. 

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