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written by Sam Greenspan

A black and white photo of Wilt Chamberlain holding a paper with a number 100 written on it.

From Wilt Chamberlain to Hugh Hefner to Simon Cowell, you need at least 1,000 sexual partners to make this list.

This isn’t a list of the people who’ve actually had the highest number of sex mates in history. I’m sure that list includes Roman emperors, Casanova, Persian kings, Shane from The L-Word, and Bill Clinton.

This list only contains the people who’ve actually thrown out an approximate number. Fame and fortune also come into play. So it mostly includes actors, singers, porn stars… and, of course, Wilt the “Big Dipper.”

People Who Claim to Have the Highest Sexual Partners in History

The people on this list are heavily male, highly suspect, and (let’s hope) not-at-all aspirational. I have a faith that it won’t be, since one of them died of STD.

Here are the 11 people who say they’ve had the most sexual partners in history.

11 | Hugh Hefner: ~1,000

You know a list of perverts is gonna get weird when Hugh Hefner comes in *last*. 

That’s right. Hugh Hefner, the guy who founded Playboy Magazine sits on top 11 with his lavish character and sexually adventurous lifestyle. It’s not surprising though since he’s the originator of the most famous men’s magazine, making sensual celebrations, wild parties, one-minute sex, and orgies twice a week!

Inquired how many sexual partners he had in his lifetime, he said, “Over a thousand, I’m sure!”

When asked about the specific figure, he added, “How could I possibly know?”

Hugh Hefner hugging three other girls in his arms, and probably a part of his sexual partners also.
Photo: European Pressphoto Agency.

10 | Simon Cowell, Dennis Rodman, and Jack Nicholson: ~2,000 each

What did the creator of X Factor, a Basketball Hall of Famer, and a three-time Academy Award Winner have in common?

The answer is promiscuity.

All three of these guys has claimed to have slept with 2,000 partners. In Jack’s case, it’s other people making the claim. Simon and Dennis are obviously saying it about themselves.

With these numbers, there’s an outside chance that there are a few women who’ve been with all three. Although, the odds are she didn’t get Chinatown/Cuckoo’s Nest-era Jack, Pistons-era Rodman, AND second season of Idol-era Simon.

I’m thinking it’s probably more like blue blocker sunglasses-era Jack, Apprentice-era Rodman, and creepy boy band scout-era Simon.

Simon Cowell, Dennis Rodman, and Jack Nicholson.

9 | Julio Iglesias: ~3,000

If Anna Kournikova didn’t exist, Enrique could’ve doubled that up. And if women weren’t lying when they say sense of humor is the most important quality in a guy, Gabriel could’ve too.

Julio’s charming personality probably gained him over 3,000 intimate partners and as a token of appreciation, he offered the song, To All The Girls I Loved Before.

Julio Iglesias walking with Miranda Rijnsburger while holding her hand.

8 | Ron Jeremy: ~4,000

The entertainment industry really gets people laid a thousand times.

Ron Jeremy’s one of two porn stars on the list, and one of the few porn stars who actually throws a number out there. (I couldn’t find any female porn stars’ numbers.)

Also, once about seven or eight years ago, when I was living in the Hollywood area, I was at a grocery store around midnight on a Tuesday, and Ron Jeremy stumbled in and bought three disposable cameras and an apple. In other words: He was still adding to his tally. (Or doing a series of still lifes?)

Porn actor Ron Jeremy's 4,000 sexual partner probably check's out with his career.

7 | Gene Simmons: ~4,800

I’m not exactly sure why, but this one manages to feel like the grossest on the list.

But maybe his name says it all. He had slept with almost 5,000 women, but unfortunately, his wife burned most of the groupie photos.

Gene Simmons with makeup, costume, and guitar in a concert.
Image by Kevin Mazur/Getty.

6 | Charlie Sheen: ~5,000

This brings up a debate: Does it count toward your lifetime tally if you pay for it?

I believe Charlie Sheen’s the only one on this list who’s openly talked about paying for sex. (Hugh Hefner’s “wives” are on salary and the porn stars were paid for sex.)

Also, does it count if you’re probably combining a mix of your sexual experiences and the sexual experiences of your eponymous TV character?

Charlie Sheen in a white navy uniform with another actress wearing green dress.

5 | Warren Beatty: ~12,775

This comes from his unauthorized 2010 biography, Star: How Warren Beatty Seduced America.

The author estimated that Beatty was such a sex symbol that he had sex with someone new every single day of his entire single life — from when he lost his virginity at age 20 until he married Annette Bening at 55.

That’s 35 years at 365 women per year (unauthorized biographers always forget things like “leap years” and “fact checking”) — which equals 12,775. I’m thinking that estimate is pretty high.

Then again, even I was seduced into buying a Dick Tracy shirt as a kid. So maybe Warren Beatty does have hypnotic charisma making him one of the personalities with the most sex partners.

Warren Beatty wearing a gentlemen's suit with actress Halle Berry in the movie Bullworth.
Image by Allstar/Cinetext/20 CENTURY FOX.

4 | John Holmes: ~14,000

Holmes was in at least 2,200 pornos, and estimated that between those and his generally sexy social life, he had 14,000 partners. (Well, actually 13,895.)

A pornography historian — how does that look on LinkedIn? — estimates it was really more like 3,000. He IS the only person on this list to die from an STD, though… so, um, credibility?

The "King of Porn," a young John Holmes beside a poster. He claimed to have 14,000 sex partners including his porno and personal life.

3 | Wilt Chamberlain, ~20,000

This is the most famous number on the list. In Wilt’s 1991 autobiography, A View From Above, he claimed to have been with 20,000 different women — all of whom were single at the time and none of whom got pregnant. That was based on an average of 1.2 women per day, every day, for his entire life.

The number seems unbelievable — but so do all of his NBA records, and there’s documentation on those. He averaged 45.8 points per game in his NBA career. One season he averaged 48.53 minutes per game. Those numbers seem unbreakable and unrealistic today, too.

A black and white photo of Wilt Chamberlain holding a paper with a number 100 written on it.

2 | Fidel Castro, ~35,000

In a documentary about Castro, a Cuban official in his inner circle claims he had sex with 35,000 women. (If there had been a documentary about Kim Jong-Il, he probably would’ve claimed he had sex with 755 million. But I assume the only camera in North Korea is a VHS-C camcorder, and they ran out of tapes back in 2003.)

This would put Castro at about two sexual partners per day for five decades. I’m not even sure if there’s been that much sex in *The* Castro in that amount of time.

So aside from being a Cuban revolutionary and socialist leader, he is also silently known for having the highest number of sexual partners. If you want to know how to run a country with lots of sex on the background, ask this guy or his close friends.

Cuban leader Fidel Castro holding a cigar in his mouth, claimed by his inner circle to have 35,000 sexual partners.

1 | The Fokkens Twins, ~177,500 EACH!

Our only ladies on the list are two of the oldest living members of the world’s oldest profession. Louise and Martine Fokkens are 70-year-old twins who were both prostitutes and probably strippers during their younger days in Amsterdam’s Red Light District for 50 years.

Interestingly, their surname translates to “to breed” in English, so I suspect they modify its original to, probably, give them more oomph in their career.

Martine and Louise Fokkens in a new documentary standing in front of a door wearing a pink dress, and claiming to each have 177,500 sexual partners.

They claim they had sex with 355,000 men combined in their run, or about 177,500 each, making them the celebrities with the most sexual partners. That roughly comes out to 10 men a day each (assuming they took two weeks of vacation every year).

As someone who visited the Red Light District, the math checks out.