Woman Learns Father Figure She Looks Up to Was a Sperm Donor Who Donated 500 Times

father figure sperm donor Chrysta Bilton Father figure sperm donor Debra Bilton Jeffrey Harrison Donor 150 California Cryobank Normal Family sperm donation

By Lili Scott , Parent Herald Jul 21, 04:46 am

Mom Chrysta Bilton, 37, was aware of the details of her conception in her early 20s, but she did not expect that the father figure she looked up to was also a sperm donor more than 500 times.

Bilton detailed via OK! that her mother, Debra Bilton, paid a good friend, Jeffrey Harrison, to be her sperm donor for her two children, Chrysta and Kaitlyn. Debra was not a typical mother because she was a lesbian. She was very private about her life and did not know anyone raising two children unconventionally.

But Chrysta soon learned that Harrison also donated his sperm for over ten years at a sperm bank in Los Angeles. He was a popular pick and came highly recommended because he was good-looking, artistic, and spiritual.

Learning about her dad, connecting with her siblings

Harrison went public with his story as Donor 150 for the California Cryobank in New York Times in 2007, and when that piece blew up, Debra sat down with her daughters to tell them the truth. Before the story came out, Chrysta said that her mother used to pretend they were a nuclear family with Harrison. She had it in her head that her friend only gave his sperm for Chrysta and Kaitlyn's conception.

But the other thing that struck Chrysta about her mother's revelation was that her boyfriend at that time, Max (not his real name), was most likely her biological brother because Harrison was a prolific sperm donor. Chrysta broke it off with Max without confirming if they were biological to this day. However, years later, one of Max's sisters signed up for the siblings' group for all of Harrison's children.

Chrysta started to look for her other siblings nearly a decade after finding out about Harrison's sperm donation. Her mother helped her track down potential siblings via a DNA test from Ancestry.

The Bilton sisters are in touch with over 40 biological siblings on their Facebook, WhatsApp, and Discord networks. Chrysta said that she is very close to many of them, and they share many similarities, including struggles with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD).

The siblings also learned that their biological father hid his paranoid schizophrenia diagnosis in his donor profile because he came from the school of thought that there is no such thing as a mental illness. Chrysta said she didn't know that mental illness can be an inherited condition, and she always found Harrison to be a quirky and eccentric man that she enjoyed having around at their house.

Publishing her memoir "Normal Family"

Her life story inspired Chrysta to write and publish "Normal Family," which detailed how she met her siblings. She told NPR that the book also features an intensive interview with Harrison. Aside from being the sperm donor, their father was also an interesting person with many conspiracy theories.

"I discovered a lot of things about my father's childhood that I didn't know that gave me a lot of compassion for him," Chrysta said.

Today, Chrysta has her own family. She married a man from a traditional background with no vices or quirkiness like her parents. Chrysta said she wants her kids to grow up in a normal, traditional family life.

Chrysta's kids are close to Debra and call their mom's many siblings their aunts or uncles. On the other hand, Chrysta sees Harrison a few times a year for coffee chats.