Netflix
Who Is ‘The Man With 1,000 Kids’? Details on Dutch YouTube Star Jonathan Jacob Meijer
Jonathan Jacob Meijer, a Dutch YouTube personality, is at the center of the Netflix documentary The Man With 1,000 Kids, after donating enough sperm to have fathered anywhere between 500 and 1,000 kids.
Who Is Jonathan Jacob Meijer?
Jonathan is a YouTuber and musician who’s previously worked as an educator, cryptocurrency consultant and mail carrier, according to The Mirror.
During a March 2004 YouTube upload, he revealed he was inspired to be a sperm donor while studying to become a social studies teacher. During his studies, he met a close friend — who later informed him that he was infertile.
“That was a really big impact in my life. I really like this guy and I saw him as my friend,” he explained in the footage. Unaware of the idea of sperm donation prior to this experience, the YouTuber became inclined to help other families who couldn’t have children.
“These men, they do something without needing something in return,” he continued. “They spend their time for others, yeah, that to me, felt very noble … I started to ask myself, why shouldn’t you become a donor? My family is very healthy. We don’t have any genetic diseases, none of my family has cancer.”
What Is Jonathan Jacob Meijer Accused Of?
The Dutch native is accused of deceiving parents and clinics to use his sperm. In 2017, the former educator was banned from donating sperm through the Dutch Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology in the Netherlands. At the time, he had donated to 11 clinics and had fathered 102 babies — well over the Dutch legal limit of 25 children by 12 different mothers.
Despite his 2017 ban, he continued to donate sperm internationally and also has offspring in Australia, Denmark, Germany, Hungary, Mexico, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine and the United States.
In April 2023, families with children conceived with Jonathan’s sperm filed a lawsuit against him and he was banned from donating more sperm.
How Many Kids Does Jonathan Jacob Meijer Have?
The exact number of children Jonathan has fathered is unclear. In the past, he has denied claims that the number reaches into the thousands.
“I have approximately 250 children. Assumptions of 1,000 are ridiculous,” he told The New York Times in 2021. “I am disappointed by the obsession of the numbers [sic]. I became a donor not for any numbers but out of love to help parents with realizing their dream. I cannot understand how anyone can only focus on numbers and see my donor children as a number.”
Where Is Jonathan Jacob Meijer Now?
Jonathan spends his time as a full-time YouTuber, sharing his many travels around the world with his more than 6,000 followers. He seemingly isn’t a supporter of the new Netflix documentary, telling his social media followers that he refused to participate in the production.
“I don’t know much about it because I didn’t participate in it,” he explained in a June 2024 video. “It’s what they think about me and what others say about me. I was right in not participating for myself, personally, because they first wanted to call it The Fertility Fraudster. That’s not a title I can work with.”
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