Who is Jonathan Meijer, Netflix's Man with 1000 Kids?
A Netflix documentary focused on Meijer is available to watch now.
A new three-part documentary series, The Man with 1000 Kids, has joined Netflix's long list of thrilling investigations - and this time, it uncovers "the gripping tale of a charming Dutch scammer, Jonathan Meijer".
As will be shown in the documentary, Meijer stands accused of travelling the world and deceiving mothers into having his babies "on a mass scale", according to the documentary's synopsis.
With access to a group of parents affected by Meijer, The Man with 1000 Kids "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".
But who is Jonathan Meijer and where is he now? Read on to find out more.
Who is Jonathan Meijer?
Jonathan Meijer is a Dutch musician and YouTuber who, as of April 2023, is estimated to have fathered between 550 and 600 children.
According to BBC News, Meijer began donating sperm in 2007, and was taken to court in 2023 by a foundation protecting donor children's rights.
Meijer has been banned from donating sperm in the Netherlands since 2017, but has reportedly continued to donate sperm abroad and online.
In 2023, Meijer was ordered to stop donating sperm and a court in The Hague told him to provide a list of the clinics he has donated his sperm to and to order them to destroy his samples.
A Dutch court determined that Meijer had "deliberately misinformed" those receiving his donation about the number of children he had fathered.
"All these parents are now confronted with the fact that the children in their family are part of a huge kinship network, with hundreds of half-siblings, which they did not choose," the district court in The Hague said.
Where is Jonathan Meijer now?
Meijer's exact whereabouts are unclear - however, based on his YouTube channel, he is currently travelling.
In a recent upload about the Netflix documentary, Meijer noted he declined to take part in the three-part series after being reached out to by the streamer.
"I want to talk freely, I want to have [a say] in my own story," he said as to why he didn't agree to join the Netflix doc.
"I've seen the trailer, somebody sent it to me because I don't watch Netflix. I don't have Netflix, I think it's evil [...] I live in nature, nature is important to me, not my story, something artificial. I help people, that's it.
"But I'm more sad that they decided to change the lives of all my donor children [...] It's not right to sensationalise. They should have asked all the parents and children [before making the documentary]."
RadioTimes.com has reached out to Netflix for comment.
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The Man with 1000 Kids will be available to stream on Netflix from Wednesday 3rd July.
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Authors
Katelyn Mensah is the Entertainment and Factual Writer for Radio Times, covering all major entertainment programmes, reality TV shows and the latest hard-hitting documentaries. She previously worked at The Tab, with a focus on reality TV and showbiz news and has obtained a BA (Hons) in Journalism.
