Serial sperm donor featured in 'The Man With 1000 Kids' shares the real number of children he's had
A 'serial' sperm donor that's the subject of a new Netflix documentary is claiming the film got his number of offspring wrong.
Released Wednesday, 'The Man With 1000 Kids' surrounds 42-year-old Jonathan Meijer, a Dutch national with a bizarre penchant for spreading his seed.
On Monday, Meijer responded to the production's suggestive title - saying he's fathered 550 children, not 1,000, as the title indicates.
The film, bolstered by interviews with families misled by the Dutchman, claims he lied about the number of offspring he had already produced. In an email, he claimed he did tell families the exact number of kids, but that he later chose to stop giving out the real estimate.
Nonbinding medical guidelines in the Netherlands impose a cap of 25 children per donor, while prohibiting people from donating at more than one clinic - rules Meijer maintains he did not break.
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Jonathan Meijer, a 'serial' sperm donor that's the subject of a new Netflix documentary, claimed Monday the film got his number of offspring wrong.
Released Wednesday, 'The Man With 1000 Kids' surrounds the 42-year-old Dutch national - and his bizarre penchant for spreading his seed
'Technically I did not lie,' Meijer wrote to NBC News.
'I followed the guidelines of every large commercial international sperm bank that does not inform the recipients about the amount of offspring one donor will produce.
'I was doing a much better thing - I gave the parents an estimated number,' he continued.
'[T]his was better and more info than they would ever get at any clinic.'
Activist Eve Wile, meanwhile, accuses Meijer of enabling fertility fraud - the failure to obtain the proper consent from a patient before artificial insemination via a donor's sperm.
That's partially because of the fact that the tally did not include Meijer's private donations through websites like Facebook, after becoming connected on websites like Desire for a Child, one of a growing number of online sperm markets that match donor candidates directly with potential recipients.
Vanessa van Ewijk, a Netherlands carpenter, was one of several women who claims to have fallen victim to this strange stratagem.
In 2015, she considered conceiving through a fertility clinic, but the cost was too much.
Instead, she found Meijer on the website, and was instantly struck by the vlogger's well-spoken demeanor and good looks, she said.
On Monday, Meijer responded to the production's suggestive title - saying he's fathered 550 children and not 1,000, as it might indicate
'I spoke to him on the phone and he seemed gentle and kind and well-behaved,' she recalled to the New York Times prior to the documentary's release.
'He liked music, and he talked about his thoughts on life. He didn't come on strong in any sense. He seemed like the boy next door.'
A month later, after meeting Meijer at a local train station, he provided her with his sperm, and in return, she forked over 165 euros - about $200 cash. A few more months, and she gave birth to her first child - Meijer's, eighth, so he said.
Years later, in 2017, the pair reconnected again, when van Ewijk decided to have a second.
Again, she paid for Meijer's sperm - but this time, she was more aware of some actions by Meijer the she says may have been unethical.
She learned from a woman with whom she connected on Facebook that Meijer also donated to her, and was also under investigation by the Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport.
The probe found he fathered more than 100 children in the Netherlands through numerous fertility clinics, a tally that did not include private donations like the ones to van Ewijk - who went through with it the second time because she wanted her kids to be full siblings - and the other woman, a single mom.
Enraged, van Ewijk confronted Meijer, who went on to admit he had produced at least 175 children - before conceding there might be more, but he had lost count. This was in 2017.
Vanessa van Ewijk, a Netherlands carpenter, was one of several women who fell victim to this strange stratagem, birthing two children by Meijer's sperm
'He said, "I’m just helping women make their biggest wish come true,"' van Ewijk remembered.
'I said: "You’re not helping anymore! How do I tell my kids that they could possibly have 300 siblings?"'
Angered by the possibility of future incest as the kids grow up, she said she may not have known the half of it - as a Dutch court in 2023 ordered Meijer to halt donating sperm to alleviate the heightened risk of hereditary defects.
The ruling came six years after the Dutch Society for Obstetrics and Gynecology banned him from donating sperm in the Netherlands in 2017 - a move that did not stop Meijer from going elsewhere with his antics.
He continued to donate to recipients in other countries including to the Danish sperm bank Cryos, which operates internationally.
He also continued to offer his services through websites and social media, as he now claims he stopped offloading his sperm back in 2019.
In the show, a series of experts and parents accuse him to lying to families about the number of children he's produced, with Wiley and others estimating the true number could be in the thousands.
This, of course, depends on how many straws of the man's sperm were successfully used to conceive - a number that remains uncertain due to the far-reaching nature of the Dutchman's donations.
In the show, a series of experts and parents accuse him to lying to families about the number of children he's produced, with Wiley and others estimating the true number could be in the thousands. Pictured, Meijer alongside the logos for facilities he's repeatedly donated to
'What happens psychologically to these children that have 700, 800, 900 brothers and sisters?' Kate, an Australian mother who found Meijer through Cryos, says in the show.
'How are they psychologically going to be able to deal with this information?'
In a video posted to his 15,000 YouTube subscribers last week, Meijer responded to those accusations, as well the ones aired by several other women including van Ewijk and others interviewed for the production.
“‘What kind of man would do that?’” Meijer says in the video, mimicking the line featured in the documentary’s trailer.
'Well, it has to be a man that’s willing to help others, and a man that sees that he can, with his life, do something more than just live for himself, work for himself, and he wants to be useful to others.
'That’s the kind of man that does it, and I’m not an exception.”
He went on to deny that he had developed an addiction to the act - taking offense to show’s characterization of him as a 'serial donor.'
'I dislike the word serial, because every donor is a serial [donor],' he explained.
'It’s just like, a donor helps multiple families. That’s quite common; it’s quite normal.
Unlike those made at facilities, donations made by private arrangements via the internet are completely unregulated. Meijer also allegedly used aliases when advertising his services on the internet, to circumvent national quotas - which is illegal. He denies this
'So this is really already adding this extreme negative aspect in the documentary, like "serial" — serial killer, serial donor.'
Unlike those made at facilities, donations made by private arrangements via the internet are completely unregulated.
Moreover, the Donorkind Foundation, a Dutch advocacy group representing donor-conceived children and their parents, claims Meijer used aliases when advertising his services on the internet, to circumvent national quotas - which is illegal
Meijer - who reportedly refused to take part in the film or comment on any of the allegations against him - continues to deny this.
He told NBC News: '[I did] not want to cooperate IN ANY WAY with Netflix and it is their responsibility to not use lies and slander.'
