This old photo shows comedian Vic Sotto carrying his daughter, not his wife Pauleen Luna
- This article is more than one year old.
- Published on August 27, 2020 at 09:15
- 2 min read
- By AFP Philippines
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The black-and-white photo was published on Facebook here August 23, 2020. The post has been shared more than 23,000 times since.
The post’s caption states in part: "Almost my child before, now I have a child with her".
The photo collage was also shared alongside a similar claim on Facebook here, here and here.
But the claim is false.
Reverse image and keyword searches on Google found that the black-and-white photo was originally published on Instagram here by one of Sotto’s adult daughters, Paulina, on June 18, 2017.
The Instagram post is captioned: “Happy Father's Day to the first man my heart belonged to. Thank you for your continuous generosity and support, I love you!”
Paulina confirmed that she is the child seen in the photo, not Sotto’s wife Luna.
“The baby in the photo is me, NOT Pauleen Luna,” she told AFP in an email on August 26, 2020. “It’s been very frustrating to have my innocent baby photo being shared in the way it has.”
Below is a screenshot comparison showing the black-and-white photo in the misleading posts (L) and Paulina’s Instagram post (R):
In a statement to Philippine Entertainment Portal (PEP), an entertainment news outlet, Luna also clarified that the black-and-white photo shows Paulina, not her.
“It's not me … That's Paulina,” Luna told PEP according to the August 10, 2020 report.
The recent colour photo in the collage was published by Luna on Instagram here on January 10, 2020. It was also featured in this entertainment report about her recent vacation with Sotto and their child.
Below is a screenshot comparison of the colour photo in the collage (L) and Luna’s Instagram post (R):
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