‘Sperminator' has 26 kids, many fathered in Target bathrooms
A year after The Post revealed that CUNY math professor Ari Nagel had fathered 23 kids — some conceived the old-fashioned way, others involving sperm handoffs at public spots such as the Atlantic Center Target in downtown Brooklyn — he's back. Nagel, 41, has donated his supersperm to even more women, resulting in four kids born since last Father's Day. And eight other ladies, from Florida to Maryland to the Bronx, are currently pregnant because of him.
In fact, wannabe mommies from all over the globe have reached out to Nagel after seeing his story in The Post: He's had inquiries from Turkey, Nigeria, South Africa and even China.
The Sperminator's summer is jam-packed with trips timed to ovulation schedules. He's flying to Israel this week to meet a woman who will have Nagel freeze his sperm at a clinic in case her first attempt at pregnancy is unsuccessful. After that, he's off to Vietnam. ”This crippled woman's story really hit home," he said of a 30-something left in a wheelchair after a debilitating motorcycle accident a few years ago. ”She said, ‘It's all I ever wanted.' You just have a vibe that she'd be an amazing mom." Plus, it will diversify his portfolio: ”I don't have an Asian baby yet." In mid-July, a hopeful from Taiwan is flying in to New York to see if Nagel can make her dreams come true.
In every case, the women are covering the cost of the flights. But, as always, Nagel charges nothing for his sperm.
”It's a lot of fun [traveling], actually. Of course, no one's ovulating in Hawaii — it's Toledo, Ohio, and Flint, Michigan," he said, insisting he loves helping strangers.
”Creating a life and saving a life are my proudest moments. I donated my bone marrow twice and I never got to meet the recipients, I have no idea who it was," he said. ”[Fathering children] is a lot more fulfilling. It's an honor to be chosen."
As The Post reported last year, the Sperminator often uses public restrooms — Target, Starbucks — for procuring samples: ”Once a location is chosen, Nagel will go into the bathroom, pleasure himself while watching porn on his iPhone . . . and ejaculate into an Instead Softcup, a type of menstrual cup. He then delivers the specimen to the woman, who goes into the ladies' restroom and inserts it into her cervix."
Nagel insists there's no shame in his game. ”There's homeless people in that Target bathroom all the time. What I'm doing is the least of their problems. You have people showering [in the sinks] there," he said. ”They should give us some free diapers for all this free press," he said.
And then there's Amanda Santiago, who received a red Solo cup full of Nagel's sperm at his friend's backyard barbecue in Queens.
”Don't drink from this cup," Nagel warned fellow guests, who, he said, quickly realized what the Sperminator was up to. ”They were all creeped out — their whole demeanor changed."
A week after Nagel was first profiled in The Post last Father's Day, he admitted that his wife — with whom he lives in downtown Brooklyn and shares three children, ages 13, 6 and 3 — of 12 years was upset by the situation. Although Nagel claimed his wife, with whom he said he did not have a romantic relationship, knew of his Sperminator hobbies, an anonymous tipster told The Post she ”had no idea."
Today, Nagel won't discuss his home life other than to say he and his ”religious" wife's arrangement hasn't changed since last year. ”She wasn't livid" about his donations, per se, but rather about the media attention wreaking havoc on their otherwise private life.
So he took a sperm sabbatical for three months. But Nagel found he couldn't ignore his calling. ”It's hard to say no [to the women], especially when it's something that's so important to them and so easy for me to give," he said.
”If what I was doing was wrong, it wouldn't feel right. But it feels good making someone's dream come true. Why that's controversial is so puzzling to me."