Netflix's Trainwreck: Where is Merthe Weusthuis of The Real Project X now?

Cosmopolitan

09-07-2025

While the days of Facebook events and good house parties seem like a lifetime ago, one woman who is probably (read: definitely) celebrating the end of this bygone era is Merthe Weusthuis.
Merthe Weusthuis is at the centre of Netflix's latest documentary, The Real Project X, which tells the true story of how a small Sweet 16 party devolved into riots that took over a quaint Dutch town.
If you've already taken a deep-dive into the true story behind Netflix's The Real Project X, here's everything you need to know about Merthe Weusthuis' life since then.
To recap, Netflix's Trainwreck: The Real Project X follows the true life events of a private party that went viral on Facebook in 2012, resulting in 350,000 RSVPs and town-wide riots.
Although the police were deployed to close off the streets and contain the party as much as possible, a riot broke out and people quickly began breaking car windows, setting public property alight, and looting from nearby stores. Luckily, no one died during the event, but at least 36 people were injured and, according to Netflix's documentary, 100 people were arrested after police reviewed footage from the night. Of those arrested, 17 were charged with "crimes related to the riots".
Marije Weusthuis from Haren, Netherlands, created a Facebook event for her upcoming Sweet 16 birthday party. The teen intended to just invite her close family and friends, but mistakenly set the invite to public and it quickly went viral. After thousands RSVPd to her invite, Weusthuis removed the event from the social platform but by this point it was too late. Copycat events had sprung up across Facebook and as the day of the party drew closer, hundreds of thousands of partygoers planned to attend.
On the night of the event, Weusthuis and her mother fled the family home and sought refuge with family – watching the party unfold via TV broadcast – while her father stayed to protect the property and support their neighbours.
Since the events of 21 September 2012, Merthe Weusthuis has been reflecting on how her Sweet 16 devolved into a party that attracted worldwide attention.
"When I turned 16, my birthday party was hijacked and blew up to what infamously became known as 'Project X Haren', named after the popular movie released that same year," she wrote in a post on Instagram ahead of the Netflix documentary's release.
Going on to say how the story "rapidly captured" the world's attention, Weusthuis explains why after more than a decade, she's finally ready to share her side. "For 12 years, I declined every request for comments, interviews, talkshow performances, documentaries, podcasts, and more," she went on. "I preferred being able to finally move through the world anonymously again, writing my own story without others always filling in the blanks for me, defining me. It's easy to think you 'know' someone just because of a single story, and the internet is an unforgiving place."
"I am 28 now and after all these years, I've decided to finally tell this story," she added. "This story does not define me. But it is still mine to tell. It is still a part of who I am. Despite the renewed scrutiny, harassment, and opinions I'm already preparing for, I'll at least have spoken in my own voice."
Weusthuis has kept a very low profile since the events of 21 September 2012, only now going public with the release of Netflix's documentary. In it, she reveals she has rarely returned to her hometown, or the Netherlands at all, for fear of judgement and publicity.
"Nowadays, I don't come home that much anymore," she says in the episode. "I don't think the Dutch have forgotten what happened."
Weusthuis currently lives in Dubai, where she works for a firm specialising in AI, according to her LinkedIn. Further social media sleuthing also shows she recently married, with Instagram posts of her big day in 2024.
You can stream Netflix's Trainwreck: The Real Project X on Netflix now.