Jerry Seinfeld has been a beloved comedian for decades. But early in his fame, he did something that probably wouldn't be okay in today's world. In fact, there are famous people sitting in jail for doing what Jerry apparently did.
It turns out that Jerry once dated a girl—yes, a girl—who was under the age of 18, while Jerry himself was in his 30s. Here's what fans should know about Jerry's long-ago ex, and what he said about the matter.
Updated January 9, 2023: This article has been updated for clarity and its sources have been updated.
Did Jerry Seinfeld Really Date An Underage Girl?
Yes, it's true that Jerry Seinfeld once dated someone underage when he was legally an adult. The girl in question is Shoshanna Lonstein, now Shoshanna Lonstein Gruss. Shoshanna met Jerry in Central Park in 1993. Most Seinfeld episodes were watched in about 30 million homes at that time, so Jerry Seinfeld was literally a household name.
Press in the '90s had a love/hate relationship with Jerry and Shoshanna. Here's what Howard Stern asked Jerry in a 1994 interview; "So you sit in Central Park and have a candy bar on a string and pull it when the girls come?"
"This is the only girl I ever went out with who was that young," Jerry responded. "I wasn’t dating her. We just went to a restaurant, and that was it."
At the time his comment was taken to mean Jerry didn't officially start 'dating' Shoshanna until she turned 18, despite being spotted at dinner with her shortly after their Central Park meet-cute.
That technicality may have held up in '93 but it doesn't now.
A TikTok with 'Seventeen Thirty-Eight' laid over the above photo of Jerry and his teenage ex is gaining more and more traction on the app and earned about 35,000 likes when shared on Twitter.
"I forget that Seinfeld was moving like R.Kelly smh," reads one Tweet, with another pointing out "His wiki has both ages bumped up by 1."
What Did Jerry Say About Dating A 17-Year-Old?
Jerry's opinion about the whole situation can be summed up in one immortal Seinfield phrase: "not that there's anything wrong with that..."
He seems to believe that the relationship they shared may have had a hefty age gap, but love is love so everyone can just calm down. "I am not an idiot," he once said in an interview. "Shoshanna is a person, not an age. She is extremely bright. She's funny, sharp, very alert. We just get along. You can hear the click."
He also claims he couldn't catch a break because his only non-Shoshanna option was to date several women at once.
"When I wasn't involved with Shoshanna and was seeing several women, then it was awkward," he continued. "You go out with one girl and the other sees you with her in the paper. That was uncomfortable. Now I’m not doing anything I'm uncomfortable with. My interest in her is very proper."
He even popped the question, reportedly on Shoshanna's 21st birthday. "We were very much in love but the timing wasn’t quite right," Jerry divulged. "I almost got married to Shoshanna."
Jerry ended up marrying Jessica Seinfeld in November 1999. She was 28 and he was 45.
What Is Shoshanna Lonstein Gruss Doing Now?
Shoshanna's doing fine these days; she went on to launch her own fashion line in 1998, and it took off. Today her pieces are sold in bougie department stores like Niemann Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue, and worn by everyone from Mindy Kaling to Meghan Markle.
It doesn't seem as if Shoshanna has much to say about Jerry these days. But she did give some interviews after they split, once noting that she was happy to have had the relationship, but admitting that she felt isolated and lonely because Jerry worked a lot and was famous.
The relationship lasted at least four years, but the two broke up because Shoshanna "wanted to run around and play," she said, and both of them knew it was time for a "break."
Lonstein Gruss went on to get married and have twins with her now ex-husband. There's apparently no bad blood in that relationship, either; Shoshanna planned to co-parent with her ex.
She's also slated to release a memoir that will probably not focus on her relationship with Jerry, but might contain some juicy details nonetheless.