Family Life
Jerne was married three times. He had two sons, Ivar Jerne (born 1936) and Donald Jerne (born 1941), with Tjek Jerne, a painter. Jerne had a third son, Andreas Wettstein, with Gertrud Wettstein, in 1971.
According to Söderqvist, Tjek, 35, was distraught when she found out that Niels was having an affair with her best friend, Adda Sundsig-Hansen. Tjek had confided in Adda about her own affairs, and Adda had told Neils about them too. Niels demanded a divorce. Tjek begged him to stay. After he refused, she killed herself. Ivar woke up in the morning, smelled gas, and found his mother dead by the oven. Jerne treated his second wife as a servant and nanny. Jerne was regularly unfaithful to his wives, and while he was not physically handsome, he attracted women by his charm as a conversationalist and his skills in the arts of love, which included a liking for sadism.
Read more about this topic: Niels Kaj Jerne
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