JONATHAN Meijer is the subject of a documentary which claims he’s banned from donating sperm after he fathered hundreds – or maybe even thousands – of children.
Read on to find out more about who he is and how his actions have impacted families around the world.
Jonathan Meijer is the subject of the Netflix documentary The Man with 1000 Kids.
It tells the true story of how he donated sperm to eleven different sperm banks in the Netherlands as well as around the world.
Meijer told people he met that he worked in education.
He also has a YouTube channel, where he posts videos of his travels as well as of his opinions on cryptocurrency and his attempt at eating a diet of raw meat.
Whilst the title of the Netflix show suggests he may have fathered a thousand children, the real number could be even higher.
The documentary tries to piece together the havoc he’s wreaked across several continents.
The director of The Man with 1000 Kids was amazed at what he found.
Josh Allott said: “It seems like it almost became an addiction for him.”
QUOTE: “You get one life on this Earth — why has he chosen to use his charm and his intellect and his creativity in order to try to procreate on a mass scale and deceive all these people?” – Josh Allott
Jonathan Meijer himself has described the trailer for the show as misleading.
In a video on his YouTube channel, he said the numbers were actually much lower.
He suggested he could sue the makers for slander.
There are a number of ethical reasons why there are limits on sperm donation.
The biggest is the risk of accidental incest.
A spokesperson for the court in the Netherlands said: “The point is that this kinship network with hundreds of half-brothers and half-sisters is much too large.
“The interests of the children weigh too heavily and that is why it is forbidden for the gentleman to give further semen,”
Natalie, who’s one of the mothers featured in the documentary, said: “Children who haven’t been brought up together are more likely to get attracted to each other because they see some familiarities in the face of the sibling.”
She said she was initially told he’s only fathered a small number of children previously.
QUOTE: “I felt really lucky that I had just found him in time, because he told me he had already helped three other women.” – Natalie
It’s feared Meijer’s actions could lead to a rise in what’s known as the “Luke and Leia complex”, named after the two Star Wars siblings who were brought up separately.
Whilst there are limits in individual countries on how much sperm somebody can donate, there’s no international cap.
Many of the families affected by the scandal appear in The Man with 1000 Kids to tell their stories.
As well as donating to eleven different sperm banks in the Netherlands, he had been donating sperm all over the world.
The families who appear in the documentary all thought they were part of only a small number of couples he was helping.
They share their stories of how they found out what was going on.
Laura and Kate – a couple from Sydney in Australia – say they found out his actions through a local Facebook group.
Single mother Nicolette, who’s a teacher, learnt a colleague of hers had also given birth to one of Meijer’s children – before finding several more half siblings for her child within her own community.
Jonathan Meijer has continued to refuse to say how many children he’s fathered, although he has claimed it’s lower than the Netflix documentary says.
Whilst the show is called The Man with 1000 Kids, experts say the true number could be even higher.
There are limits in place in individual countries on how many sperm donations someone can make, however there’s no international limit.
This meant Meijer was able to travel to many different countries and continue to donate.
Eve Wiley, a fertility fraud activist who appears in the new show, tried to guess how many children he could have fathered.
She said: “He’s going to Copenhagen once a month for four days for four years, that’s roughly 200 donations, and you can get about 15 straws of sperm per ejaculation.
“If every straw makes a baby, that could be 3,000 potential children.
“That is just one sperm bank – and we know that he was in at least 11 sperm banks.”
Jonathan Meijer eventually faced legal action in the Netherlands.
The Dutch court banned him from donating sperm to new parents, saying he’d be fined 100,000 euros each time he did.
They also made him ask each sperm bank to destroy any of his sperm that they held.
Jonathan Meijer has a YouTube channel that shows he still travels to different countries.
He’s fought back against some of the claims made in the Netflix documentary, saying it’s misleading and calling the trailer “abominable”.
His most recent videos were filmed in Nungwi, which is a village in Unguja, Tanzania.
The Man with 1000 Kids is now available to watch on online streaming service Netflix.
They have a number of packages, including one that’s supported by adverts, or more expensive ones that are ad-free and offer improved picture and sound.
Viewers can watch shows through their Smart TV or through their phone or tablet.
