A shocking new show about a rogue sperm donor is due to land on Netflix this week. But who is Jonathan Meijer and where is he now?
The series centres around a sperm donor who allegedly deceived hundreds of families.
A Netflix synopsis of the show explains: “The Man With 1000 Kids uncovers the gripping tale of a charming Dutch scammer, Jonathan Meijer, who is accused of travelling the world deceiving mothers into having his babies on a mass scale. The three-part series investigates the murky world of the fertility industry and uncovers how due to a lack of global regulations, some international fertility clinics continue to allow anonymous donations.
“With exclusive access to a group of passionate and aggrieved parents, this series unravels the twisting and turning story of this YouTuber who defrauded parents from all around the world, and how they are now on a mission to push for a change in the law to prevent him deceiving more.”
You can watch the trailer for the show here:
Who is Jonathan Meijer?
Meije, 43, is believed to have donated sperm on a mass, unregulated scale, fathering hundreds of children along the way. Meijer was originally a musician before he started to donate sperm, according to the docu-series.
He is believed to have begun donating sperm around 2007 in the Netherlands and is thought to have continued to do this for the next decade.
Despite the law only allowing sperm donors to father up to 25 children via 12 mothers, authorities discovered that the musician had conceived 102 children.
While he was banned from donating sperm in his own country after the discovery in 2017, the documentary series claims he then travelled around Europe, donating to sperm clinics. It’s alleged that he would tell clinics he was donating “exclusively” to them and that he’d only fathered 10 children.
After a chance meeting by two parents who noticed a striking resemblance of their children, his deception was uncovered. Those affected by his actions later founded the Donorkind Foundation and sued Meijer over his excessive donations.
It is not known for certain how many children Meije fathered.
Where is Jonathan Meijer now?
In 2023, Meijer was brought before a Dutch court and was banned from ever supplying sperm again.
He was ordered to inform clinics about his deception and was told to write them a letter telling them to destroy any remaining samples of his sperm.
The court told Meijer that if he continued, he would face fines of between £85 – £88,000 per donation.
It’s unclear where he is now, although he does post old videos on YouTube.
Has he responded to the Netflix series?
Speaking about the upcoming series, he told viewers: “I’ve seen the trailer, somebody sent it to me because I don’t watch Netflix. I help people, that’s it. I’m more sad that they decided to change the lives of all my donor children,” he continued.
Meijer also challenged claims about the number of children he’d fathered and said the majority of families he helped were grateful to him.
The 43-year-old declined to speak to Netflix for the documentary, but he spoke to BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour.
He said: “They deliberately called [the documentary] The Man With 1,000 Kids, when it should be ‘the sperm donor who helped families conceive with 550 children’,” he told the programme.
“So already from the start they are deliberately deceiving and misleading.”
He continued: “I think Netflix did a great job at selecting five families [who are unhappy] out of the 225 families that I’ve helped, and they [the other families] will definitely tell you something else.”
Responding to the interview with the BBC, the show’s executive producer described his claim that the majority of families are happy as “completely untrue”.
The Man With 1000 Kids is available to stream on Netflix now
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