It’s the story that rocked Silicon Valley: the bust-up of Google co-founder Sergey Brin and his wife of six years, Anne Wojcicki.
But when it came to reporting on the breakup, a red-faced People magazine admitted it published the wrong photo of the person identified as the “other woman” involved in the rift.
Brin has been dating Amanda Rosenberg, a 26-year-old Googler who moved to the San Francisco corporate offices to work for Google Glass, Brin’s pet project.
Instead of a picture of Rosenberg, who has posted plenty of pictures of herself on the Web, People ran a stock photo of a woman riding a bike and sporting a pair of Google’s glasses in the issue that hit newsstands yesterday.
While the model in the stock image does resemble Brin’s new gal pal, she is not Rosenberg.
In the comment section of Valleywag.com, which first picked up on the error, a person claiming to be the woman in the stock photo identifies herself as Nathalie de Clercq — and it doesn’t sound like she is enjoying her newfound fame.
“Yes that’s me … this photo has been all around the world under the wrong name,” de Clercq wrote.
“It’s awful. Ever since the gossip came out…. It was snapped back in JUNE! So many made-up stories.”
Since People hit most newsstands yesterday, there’s little the Time Inc. flagship publication can do.
The culprit, it seems, is the Splash photo agency, which apparently supplied the wrong photo to more than one outlet.
Embarrassed People managing editor Larry Hackett said, “While we accept full responsibility for the mistake, we were supplied with a photo that mistakenly identified the women pictured as Rosenberg.
“We regret the error, and apologize for any discomfort it has caused.”