A YouTube Youth Pastor, Joshua Wesely has been called out for allegedly beginning a romantic affair with his wife when she was 14. 

The German YouTuber and filmmaker announced his now-wife Isabelle’s 18th birthday on Nov. 17, 2020. Over a year later, a screenshot of his Instagram birthday post for Isabelle has gone viral after it incited a controversy. 

In an Instagram post for Isabelle’s birthday, Wesely wrote;

“Finally 18.

 “You’ve been my best friend for four years, you are my girlfriend.”

The implication of Wesely’s post seems to be that he and Isabelle began dating when she was 14. The age of consent in Germany is however 14.

Other Twitter users posted screenshots of Wesely’s Instagram posts showing the dates of his three-year anniversary with Isabelle, their engagement, and their wedding. Their three-year anniversary was on Feb. 18, 2020, and the pair were engaged on Dec. 19, 2020—only a month after she turned 18. They were married in August 2021.

Wesely is best known for his 2021 film 2025 – The World Enslaved by Virus, which imagined a world after COVID-19 that includes widespread communism and the prohibition of “meetings,” traveling, and Christianity. Wesely stars in the film, which he co-produced and co-directed with his brother, Simon.