Fact Check: Is the Jerry Seinfeld dating a high schooler picture real? Comedian's relationship with Shoshanna Lonstein explored

American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and producer Jerry Seinfeld, better known as the star of the NBC sitcom Seinfeld, played a fictionalized version of himself on the show from 1989 to 1998. Recently, a claim arose across social media platforms that around this time, Jerry Seinfeld dated a high school girl while he was in his late 30s. In fact, a black-and-white photo of the comedian with a teenage girl has now gone viral across the internet.

According to Snopes, the image is authentic and shows Jerry Seinfeld with his former girlfriend, Shoshanna Lonstein. The media outlet states that the duo met in New York City’s famous Central Park in May 1993, when Seinfeld was 38 years old and Lonstein was only 17. The source cites that the couple dated from 1993 to 1997.

As for the black-and-white photo, Snopes states that it comes from the March 1994 cover story of People magazine, where an article about the couple’s relationship was published.

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Jerry Seinfeld’s girlfriend was a senior at Nightingale-Bamford School when the duo first met

The black-and-white photo of Jerry Seinfeld with his ex-girlfriend Shoshanna Lonstein that has surfaced online is real and has been derived from People magazine’s March 1994 cover, in which the duo’s relationship was highlighted.

In fact, as per Snopes, the caption of the photo in the magazine stated that the picture was captured “last September,” meaning the fall of 1993, when Seinfeld was 39 years old and Shoshanna Lonstein had just turned 18 but was still a senior in high school.

As per the then feature in People magazine, comedian and TV star Jerry Seinfeld was “strolling through Central Park one day in May 1993" when he came across a stranger. He was 38 at the time and made “small talk” with a girl, without knowing that she was 17 years old and “a senior at the private Nightingale-Bamford School in Manhattan. Not only that, but the two exchanged phone numbers and later began “dating.” People magazine also stated that Jerry called her “the most wonderful girl in the world.”

So yes, the claim that Jerry Seinfeld once dated a girl when the latter was underage and still in high school is true. In fact, Snopes cites that the two were a couple who dated from 1993 to 1997. Significant media attention was allegedly one of the reasons for their breakup.

Meanwhile, as per The Things, Jerry Seinfeld sat for an interview with Howard Stern in 1994, in which the latter asked the former:

“So you sit in Central Park and have a candy bar on a string and pull it when the girls come?”

Seinfeld had instantly responded that Shoshanna was the “only girl” he ever went out with “who was that young.” He had further added that they didn’t really date but just went to restaurants and hung out. Jerry’s statement may have hinted at the fact that the duo did not officially begin dating until Lonstein turned 18, even though they were regularly spotted together around New York City.

According to The Things, around the same time, in another interview with People magazine, Seinfeld went on record to say that “Shoshanna is a person, not an age,” while simultaneously calling her bright, funny, sharp, and alert, and stating how they “get along” well. The source also cites how Jerry proposed to Lonstein when she turned 21, and the two almost got married.

While it remains unclear who first shared the photo in recent times, it has now garnered enough traction online, with many netizens calling out Seinfeld.

Interestingly, Seinfeld ended up marrying Jessica Sklar in 1999, when he was 45 and she was 28. The couple has three children. Meanwhile, Shoshanna Lonstein went on to launch her own luxury fashion line in 1998, got married to Joshua Gruss, and went on to have three kids with him. However, they later got divorced and now co-parent their children.