Telegram CEO Pavel Durov recently revealed that he had over 100 biological children, leaving millions of followers stunned.
"I was just told that I have over 100 biological kids. How is this possible for a guy who has never been married and prefers to live alone?" he said.
Pavel Durov's Story
The 39-year-old Russian-born IT entrepreneur explained he began donating sperm 15 years ago to help a friend struggling with fertility issues.
In a post on Telegram, Durov wrote, "Back fifteen years ago, a friend of mine approached me with a weird request. He said that he and his wife couldn't have kids due to a fertility issue and asked me to donate sperm at a clinic for them to have a baby. I laughed my ass off before realising he was dead serious. The boss of the clinic told me that "high quality donor material" was in short supply and that it was my civic duty to donate more sperm to anonymously help more couples. This sounded crazy enough to get me to sign up for sperm donation."
He said today in 2024, his past donating activity has helped over a 100 couples in 12 countries to have kids. He wrote though he stopped being a donor several years ago, at least one IVF clinic still has his frozen sperm available for anonymous use by families who want to have kids.
Elon Musk Reacts
Reacting to the post in his trademark humorous style, tech billionaire Elon Musk put up a post on X (formerly Twitter), saying, "Rookie numbers lmao – Genghis Khan."
Musk has fathered 12 children with three women. Earlier this year, he welcomed a new baby with Neuralink executive Shivon Zilis.
“Rookie numbers lmao” – Genghis Khan
July 29, 2024Mongol ruler Genghis Khan had reportedly fathered thousands of children. In his post, Musk playfully downplayed the number while drawing a parallel with Genghis Khan.
What Pavel Durov Plans To Do
Durov said he planned to open-source his DNA so that his biological children could find each other more easily. He said even though there were risks, he did not regret having been a donor. He claimed the shortage of healthy sperm had become an increasingly serious issue worldwide, and he was proud he had done his part to alleviate the issue.
Durov also said that he wanted want to help destigmatise the notion of sperm donation and incentivise more healthy men to do it, so that families struggling to have kids could enjoy more options.
Dubbed 'Russia's Zuckerberg', Durov founded Vkontakte, Russia's largest social network, at just 22. However, his refusal to compromise on user data by cooperating with Russian authorities led to his exile. Now a French citizen, he relocated Telegram, his messaging app, to Dubai in 2017, media reports stated.
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