Jonathan Jacob Meijer has responded to criticism of his actions fathering over 1,000 children (Picture: CEN)
A man accused of fathering more than 1,000 children has said he thinks concerns about ‘inbreeding’ are ‘over-exaggerations’.
The three-part Netflix series The Man with 1000 Kids tells the stories of parents, primarily from the Netherlands, who enlisted the assistance of Jonathan Jacob Meijer to have their children.
But while they believed he was subject to quotas about how many families he could donate to, it turns out he fathered at least 1000 kids, with some estimates suggesting it could even be as many as 3,000.
Meijer, now known as the ‘fertility fraudster’, misrepresented how many donations he had made.
Despite choosing not to take part in the documentary, he’s now given an interview defending his actions to tell ‘my side of the story’.
The 42-year-old Dutchman has claimed the real number of children he’s helped bring into the world is closer to 600.
The Dutch man has acknowledged he ‘got carried away’ (Picture: CEN)
The former high school teacher turned Crypto trader first started donating sperm age 25, doing so at a sperm bank.
‘At first it was really great. I knew that the people who got my sample would be super happy, and they’d create a family. That’s something meaningful and real,’ he told The Independent.
After becoming more comfortable with being a donor, Meijer no longer wanted to remain anonymous and wanted to ‘meet people and see the smile on their faces’, then choosing to advertise himself on Dutch websites where women sought sperm donors.
He was then inundated with requests and would usually provide donations in plastic cups, though at times he had sex with the women.
Finding ‘it hard to say no’ to continuous requests, Meijer said he felt like ‘the guy that comes along with the winning lottery ticket’ for those wanting children.
Although he did acknowledge he ‘got too carried away’, Meijer didn’t agree he had misled women.
In the Netflix series, many spoke about their concerns of incest or inbreeding between half-siblings who had no idea they are related, with one mother saying she discovered multiple women in her town had children with Meijer.
In 2017, the Dutch Society of Obstetrics and Gynaecology blacklisted Meijer as a donor after learning he had fathered at least 102 children via multiple Dutch clinics, which breached guidelines in the Netherlands stipulating that sperm donors should not father more than 25 children.
To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web
browser that
supports HTML5
video
Although he accepted inbreeding was a concern, Meijer believes his critics are ‘over-exaggerating’ the likelihood of it happening.
‘It comes down to if [my donor children] would run into somebody that they don’t know, and they can always ask,’ he told the publication.
‘All the children know that they’re from a donor and they know my name. It’s a little thing that they have to be aware of. “Are you from a donor and is your donor Jonathan?”.’
Meijer said he stopped donating sperm to new recipients in 2019, wanting to focus on having children of his own, but four years later a Dutch court ordered him to stop donating sperm, destroy any held by clinics and imposed a €100,000 (£84,000) fine for any future breach.
He said he decided not to speak in the Netflix series because it was ‘capitalising on these families’ and he’d chosen not to watch it.
When faced with some of the accusations levelled against him in the series, including that he and another donor Leon mixed their sperm together before giving it to recipients, Meijer said it was ‘total slander’ and was prepared to ‘sue the hell out of the whole Netflix crew’.
He also denied donating to a sperm bank in Kenya or posting on donor groups as the Lion of Mombasa.
Last year a Dutch court ordered him to stop donating sperm (Picture: Hollandse Hoogte/ Shutterstock)
Addressing criticism of his actions, Meijer denied he was ‘addicted’ to having children, but that he did get caught up in the feeling of ‘being valuable to people and having a great time with them’.
However, he did say that in hindsight he ‘should have set more boundaries for myself’.
Aside from the Netherlands, Meijer’s children have been found in Australia, Canada, Mexico, Russia, Romania, Kenya, Argentina, Kenya, South Africa and all over Europe.
At The Hague’s Palace of Justice last year Meijer, he admitted to having ‘nearly 600’ children, however with both private and sperm bank donations, estimates suggest the number could be as high as 3,000 and Jonathan has been ordered to stop donating.
Metro.co.uk has contacted Netflix for comment.
The Man with 1000 Kids is streaming on Netflix.
Got a story?
If you’ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@metro.co.uk, calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we’d love to hear from you.