At the premiere of the fourth season of "Die Verräter", Jochen Horst (64) drew attention with a crutch. Now the actor has revealed what's behind it: In a video on Instagram, he explains that a fall while walking his dog took him out of action. His own dog Gucci was involved.
"Gucci is a very skittish dog, she's from a kill shelter, a Spanish water dog, she's experienced a lot of bad things in life", Horst says in the clip. When the animal got startled, the long leash wrapped around his legs. At that moment, he wanted to take a big step forward to avoid stepping on the dog. But that didn't work out: "I got caught, tangled up in the leash, stepped down with my foot, twisted my ankle and slammed face-first into the ground."
Ligaments torn in right leg
Gucci apparently noticed little of all this. She kept running and acted "as if nothing had happened, as if everything was completely normal", Horst describes. He himself couldn't get back on his feet after the fall. A stabbing pain had already told him that this would have consequences.
The hunch was confirmed. Horst tore the ligaments in his right leg during the incident last week in Essen, as he explained to the "Bild" newspaper. Such situations, though with less drastic consequences, are not uncommon, the actor told the newspaper. The dog reacts in panic to loud noises or unexpected movements, jumping back or shooting forward. The leash then repeatedly gets tangled around her owner's legs.
Gucci's backstory explains much of this behavior. The six-year-old purebred Spanish water dog ended up in a kill shelter on the Spanish mainland according to "Bild" and came to Germany through an animal protection organization. It is suspected that she originally belonged to a hunter and was abandoned because she was not suitable as a hunting dog.
Gucci had five previous owners before she arrived at Horst and his wife Tina's (53) home in Essen in 2025. The actor also explained the choice of name to the newspaper: "When we got her, my son Chazz had his first exclusive contract with Gucci in Milan."
A production is at risk
The fall likely has professional consequences for Horst. A production was supposed to start soon, which he will now probably have to cancel. "It is what it is, I can't change it. I hope I can get through this quickly", he says in the Instagram video. According to "Bild", several weeks of rest lie ahead of him.
He doesn't hold the accident against his dog. Gucci didn't act out of aggression, but out of fear, the report states. He doesn't regret the decision to adopt the rescue dog for a second.
Jochen Horst became known to millions of viewers between 1995 and 1998 as Detective Chief Inspector Stefan Balko in the RTL series of the same name. In recent years, he has also appeared on reality TV. In 2024, he placed second on "Promi Big Brother". After that, he moved into "Das Sommerhaus der Stars" and participated in "The Hunt - Welcher Promi ist leichte Beute?".
