Fact Check

Pic from Early '90s Shows Jerry Seinfeld with High School-Age Girlfriend?

According to People magazine, Jerry Seinfeld and Shosana Lonstein met in 1993.

Published Sept. 25, 2023

 (Twitter.com / People Magazine)
Image courtesy of Twitter.com / People Magazine
Claim:
A photo authentically shows Jerry Seinfeld with long-time girlfriend Shosana Lonstein, who was in high school when the two first met.

A black-and-white photo of comedian Jerry Seinfeld and a younger woman repeatedly goes viral on social media with a caption or description alluding to the fact that Seinfeld first met a long-term girlfriend of his when he was in his late 30s and she was in high school:

The author of the above viral post clarified that he did not actually witness these events, but is referencing widely reported details of Jerry Seinfeld's relationship with Shosana Lonstein. The two met while the latter was a senior at the Nightingale-Bamford School in New York City. 

The photo comes from a March 1994 cover story about that relationship published in People magazine. The caption indicates that the photo was taken "last September," indicating that Seinfeld was 39 and Lonstein was 18 at the time. As reported in that People magazine feature:

Real-life Jerry Seinfeld, comedian, TV star and life observer, was strolling through Central Park one day in May 1993 when he spotted a stranger he now calls "the most wonderful girl in the world." Seinfeld, then 38, sallied over, made small talk and went away with the telephone number of Shoshanna Lonstein — then 17 and a senior at the private Nightingale-Bamford School in Manhattan.

The couple dated from 1993 to 1997. Because the photo authentically shows Seinfeld with a girlfriend who was in high school when he met her, descriptions of the photo are Correctly Attributed. 

Sources

Sargent, Jordan. "Remember When 39-Year-Old Jerry Seinfeld Dated a 17-Year-Old?" Gawker, 29 June 2015, http://defamer.gawker.com/remember-when-38-year-old-jerry-seinfeld-dated-a-17-yea-1714153938.

"Shoshanna Lonstein - Jerry Seinfeld." Daily News, 28 May 1993, p. 283. newspapers.com, https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news-shoshanna-lonstein-jerry-se/90197963/.

"The Game of Love." People Mag, https://people.com/archive/cover-story-the-game-of-love-vol-41-no-11/. Accessed 25 Sept. 2023.
 

Alex Kasprak is an investigative journalist and science writer reporting on scientific misinformation, online fraud, and financial crime.

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