Incest fears and 550 children: Meet the world’s most prolific sperm donor

Who is Jonathan Meijer?

Meijer is a 43-year-old Dutch musician who comes from a large family and has seven siblings, which he described in a recent YouTube video as a “great thing”.

Often sharing snippets of his life with his nearly 23,000 subscribers on his YouTube channel, he is interested in cryptocurrency and exploring health options such as the raw-meat diet, in addition to his love for music.

While he hasn’t shared much about his childhood, a former friend of his, known only as Patricia, appeared in the Netflix docuseries and in it she described Meijer as someone with a “God-like complex” and claimed that as a young adult, he struggled to find his place in the world.

His jobs have included working as a civics teacher, a mailman and a cryptocurrency consultant.

While it’s unclear if he has a partner, he recently told a German newspaper: “I want to start a family, dream of having five children.”

Why did Jonathan Meijer begin donating sperm?

Meijer’s story started when he was a college student and was friends with an infertile man. “It had a big impact on me, because I saw the effect that it had on his life. So I started to be interested … and I started to think, could I be a donor?” he told BBC Radio 4′s Woman’s Hour in a recent interview.

He also spoke about his reason for starting donation in a YouTube video uploaded in October last year in which he said he believed donating sperm was a “kind thing to do” as he has no family history of cancer, diabetes or genetic diseases.

Meijer made his first sperm donation in 2007, to a sperm clinic in the Netherlands, a country of approximately 17 million people. At first, he appeared to be adhering to the law, which stated he could father a maximum of 25 children through 12 different mothers.

However, by 2017, it was revealed he had not only donated to a total of 11 clinics around the country but that he had fathered 102 children, resulting in a court case and Meijer being banned from donating any more sperm through the country’s donation network.

His motive for wanting to donate his sperm and father so many children around the world is different depending on who you ask.

Netflix docuseries director Josh Allott told Tudum: “Speaking to lots of different parents that have met him and people that know him well, it seems like it almost became an addiction for him.”

Other online users claim he may have wanted to become the Guinness World Record holder for fathering the most children.

Meijer himself, recently told German media: “I want to do something meaningful with my life.”

Private donations after being ‘banned’ from sperm clinics

In the years after his 2017 court case, Meijer ignored the ban placed on him and continued to donate privately and in other countries.

The Mirror reported he joined a Facebook group for women and couples who needed assistance in procreating. The Netflix documentary claimed in addition to this, he also donated to clinics outside of Netherlands, stating he would at times use an alias in order to be accepted by some clinics.

It has also been widely reported that he would lie to couples he dealt with privately, telling them he had “only” 10 children.

Meijer maintains he has donated his sperm mostly for free, telling German media: “I don’t ask for anything, but sometimes I receive £64 ($139), a plane ticket, or a camera as a gift.”

By 2023, Meijer had made upwards of 500 sperm donations, with children known to be living in the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, Argentina and some even in Australia. And while he appeared to be doing so flying under the radar, it wasn’t for long.

In chance meetings, families would notice their children shared the same blonde hair or blue eyes and soon a Facebook group called Donorkind 102 JJM was created. It’s unclear exactly how many people are in the group now as it has been made completely private, but The Mirror reported in June that, at the time, 157 people were in it.

Following the realisation of just how many children Meijer had fathered, which is estimated to be at least 550, one woman and the Donorkind Foundation raised a civil lawsuit in April against Meijer, claiming he was increasing the risk of unintentional incest among his biological offspring.

Court case against Jonathan Meijer

The civil lawsuit was raised in The Hague and claimed Meijer not only violated the Dutch law of procreating 25 children by donation but also increased the risk of unintentional incest between his children.

Meijer’s defence team argued he was only “trying to help” families that couldn’t have children on their own and that if he were to be found guilty and prevented from donating sperm, it would effectively be “legal castration”.

His team also noted Meijer currently only donated to families who have children with his DNA.

Ultimately, the court ruled Meijer “deliberately misinformed” families receiving his donations and with the number of children he now has, it creates a “huge kinship network, with hundreds of half-siblings” that could result in negative psychosocial consequences for his children.

The judge ruled Meijer is unable to donate any more sperm. If he does, he will be fined €100,000 ($183,294) per donation. He was also ordered to request the destruction of his semen that was stocked in clinics unless held in reserve for parents of children conceived by his sperm.

Netflix’s The Man with 1000 Kids

Following the court ruling, Netflix released a three-part series, which included speaking to various families who had been victims of Meijer’s deception.

Natalie Hill, the documentary’s executive producer, told Woman’s Hour shortly after the court case any claims Meijer only donated to a small number of families was untrue.

“I’ve spent the last four years speaking to families who have been impacted by Jonathan’s lies. I’ve personally spoken to 45 or 50 families,” she said.

“Fifty families made impact statements to the court about his lies and pleaded with the judge that he stop. So this continued platform for Jonathan to talk about it being a handful of women is completely untrue.”

Meijer refused to appear in the docuseries, however he also spoke to Woman’s Hour where he slammed the production for being “deceiving”.

“They deliberately called [the documentary] The Man With 1000 Kids when it should have been ‘the sperm donor who helped families conceive with 550 children’,” he said.

“So already from the start they are deliberately deceiving and misleading.”

He added: “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.”

He also said he sees “absolutely nothing wrong” with fathering so many children but told German media it was wrong of him to lie in order to help, “Yes, I lied to the women. That was wrong. I wanted to help them.”

Does Meijer still donate his sperm?

Due to the court’s ruling, Meijer is legally unable to donate to new families. However, The Mirror reported “incredibly, Meijer continues to donate sperm”, noting that it is only to women and families who already have a child of his DNA and want another – something he is legally allowed to do.

Who has fathered the most children in the world?

Despite the significant number of children Meijer fathers around the world, he does not hold the record for the most children.

That record is said to be held by Genghis Khan, a 13th-century Mongolian warrior who led the world’s largest empire.

History states that the fearsome ruler, also known as “Super Father Khan”, had four legitimate sons and five daughters with his wife, Borte. However, with an estimated 500 secondary wives, it’s believed he may have fathered up to 2000 children.

In fact, he had so many children that in 2003, Chris Tyler-Smith, an evolutionary geneticist, found 8% of men in 16 different Asian populations share the same Y-chromosome pattern and, therefore, likely share the same descendant, The Sun reported in 2022.

That equates to approximately 0.5% of the world’s male population sharing the same identical Y-chromosome.

Lillie Rohan is a London-based reporter covering lifestyle and entertainment stories who joined the Herald in 2020. She specialises in all things reality TV, films and music.