An image purported to show actor Anushka Sharma and Indian skipper Virat Kohli with their newborn, is morphed. BOOM found that the image is originally of actor Karisma Kapoor and her ex-husband, entrepreneur Sanjay Kapur, with their son.
Netizens have used the morphed image along with a photograph of the cricketer-actor couple after they announced the pregnancy in August, 2020 to congratulate them.
Another stock image featuring a woman and a newborn has also been misleadingly used by Facebook users to claim that it shows Anushka Sharma with her newborn daughter. Below is the screenshot.
Fact Check
Image 1: Original Photo is of Karisma Kapoor and Sanjay Kapur
BOOM ran a reverse search on the image and found that the photograph is originally of Karisma Kapoor and Sanjay Kapur with their son Kiaan Raj Kapoor, days after he was born in 2010. Faces of both Karisma and Sanjay were replaced with Anushka and Virat's respectively to claim that the image shows the latter couple with their newborn.
A website, which shared the same image in March, 2010, wrote, "Karisma Kapur is a proud mother of two. She gave birth to baby boy at Breach Candy Hospital in Mumbai. .Karisma has named her new born Kiaan Raj Kapoor. The meaning of the name is 'Grace Of God' and it is an American Hebrew name. Karisma chose the boy's name as her hubby Sanjay Kapur chose the name of their first born girl ,Samaira who is five yr old now." (sic.)
The same image has been used in multiple other websites to report about Karisma Kapoor's separation with Sanjay Kapur. The couple filed for a divorce in 2014 and was legally separated in 2016.
Interestingly, the same image was viral earlier as Kareena Kapoor Khan and Saif Ali Khan with their son Taimur Ali Khan.
Anushka Sharma gave birth to a baby girl on January 11. Kohli shared the news on his social media accounts with a note that reads, "We are thrilled to share with you that we have been blessed with a baby girl this afternoon. We thank you all for your love, prayers and good wishes. Anushka and the baby are both healthy and we are feeling beyond blessed to start this new chapter of our lives." The couple has also requested for privacy during this time.
Image 2: Photo is from stock images
A reverse image search on the photograph featuring a woman and a newborn led us to an article by NDTV.com which was published on August 3, 2017. The image was used as a representative image to report on World Breastfeeding Week. NDTV has credited the photograph to istockphoto.com.
Media outlets misreport 'random image' posted by Virat Kohli's brother as that of the newborn
An image of a newborn's feet wrapped in a blanket, shared by Kohli's brother Vikas Kohli, was immediately picked up by news outlets to falsely claim that it shows the former's newborn daughter. The image was posted on Instagram by Vikas Kohli with a GIF which reads, 'Welcome' and it was captioned as, Happiness overboard .... angel in the house"
Virat Kohli's brother Vikas Kohli clarified that the image is not that of the newborn but a 'random image' after Hindustan Times , India.com , The Indian Express.com , India Today , The Times of India , Bollywood Hungama , Business Today , Live Hindustan reported that it shows the first glimpse of Kohli and Sharma's daughter.
Below is Vikas Kohli's clarification on Instagram.
Additionally, BOOM ran a reverse image search on the photograph and found that it is a stock photo available in Shutterstock.
Below is a comparison of the same.
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