Mom of five discovers husband was secret sperm donor

By Jamie Saunderson

A mum discovered her husband of 20 years was a secret sperm donor - fathering 'at least 10 children' - after finding a tube in his cupboard.

Mary Thomson, whose name we have changed, was left "shattered" after discovering the double life of her "sex-addict" husband - who also has a son from a previous relationship - which saw him offer his semen in Facebook groups under aliases.

The 60-year-old had been oblivious to the acts of her husband, David (not his real name), 45, until she stumbled across a "receptacle" in their home seven months ago.

She also found a file detailing his sperm donations - which he'd been making for six years under a fake name.

It is not known how many children have resulted from his donations - which Mary claims were sparked by a "pregnancy fetish" and an "insatiable libido".

Distraught Mary now says she "can't accept him as my husband" although they remain together.

Mom-of-five Mary, a retail manager, from Edinburgh, Scotland, said: "I'm still shattered. I feel a sense of extreme betrayal.

"Things will never be the same. I wonder if he ever really loved me in the first place.

"He fantasized over the recipients on Facebook and he had a fetish regarding pregnancy and fertility.

"He would take days off - masturbating himself all day in a frenzy - to get the results into some kind of larger receptacle.

"He had dozens of aliases online and different Facebook accounts.

"He was desperate for as many babies as he could possibly achieve.

"He also advertised for sex through natural insemination, which is having intercourse.

"I would rather have been an ordinary person that didn't have to know anything about this."

Responding to his wife's claims, David said he "wasn't that successful" a sperm donor and that he believes he fathered "fewer than 10" children through it - although Mary suspects the real number is in the double digits.

Mary claims her husband - who does not work - also had a "fantasy" about donating sperm to 'goth women' and he liked them to be much younger than him with many recipients in their 20s and 30s.

A busy working mom with grown-up children from a previous relationship, Mary had no idea of his deeds which she believes had been going on for around five years.

While she went out to do 12-hour shifts, Mary says he would organise to deliver sperm to expectant clients - many of them lesbian couples - in hotel rooms and on the street.

Social media platforms host countless groups in which users discuss sperm donation but there have been warnings about the perils of the unregulated market.

While fertility treatments are available on the NHS, not everyone is eligible - giving rise to demand for unlicensed donors, many of whom are said to be seeking their own gratification.

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Mary believes that was the case for her husband - who says he did not receive payment for many of his donations.

Describing the shocking day in July 2025 when she stumbled across his implements, Mary said: "I had annual leave from my job and that was when things came to light.

"It was some kind of receptacle, a very substantial plastic thing with a screw top, that I found in his wardrobe.

"There was also a file that said a name that wasn't his on it and it had details of his donations inside.

"I confronted him about it and he couldn't deny it because he had the compulsion to go out and do it."

After the discovery, Mary took time off work and fled to her daughter's house in Southampton, Hampshire, where she spent two weeks and "didn't eat or sleep".

When her daughter ran out of space, she moved into a homeless shelter closer to home for another two weeks.

With no hope of being offered permanent accommodation, Mary went back to the home she and her husband shared.

They are now living together again and he is receiving treatment while he undertakes a 12-step program for sex addiction.

But Mary, who originally spoke to Sell Us Your Story, said: "I can’t really accept him as my husband any longer."

She still feels an attachment to him but believes she may have a trauma bond.

She says she recently found a note in his drawer stating "I had a good run and I got what I wanted".

The pair - who both divorced from their previous spouses - met at work nearly 25 years ago and had a "normal life" before the revelations.

Mary said: "We had a normal life and a dog and he got on well with my family.

"We never fought or argued.

"We didn't have a tumultuous, crazy relationship."

Mary struggles to understand her husband's motives but suspects he was seeking to satisfy 'narcissistic impulses'.

She said: "I think he has a narcissistic element to his personality around wanting to be a winner all the time, admiration, self-gratification.

"He was desperate for as many babies as he could possibly achieve.

"He wanted to install himself into young people's lives.

"He wants the children to contact him so he can be the central figure."

She described the Facebook groups her husband frequented as a "subculture where everything is made to seem normal".