diff --git a/src/wp-includes/comment.php b/src/wp-includes/comment.php
index 3909683bceb86..c08908afa56b4 100644
--- a/src/wp-includes/comment.php
+++ b/src/wp-includes/comment.php
@@ -2812,7 +2812,25 @@ function wp_update_comment_count_now( $post_id ) {
 	$new = apply_filters( 'pre_wp_update_comment_count_now', null, $old, $post_id );
 
 	if ( is_null( $new ) ) {
-		$new = (int) $wpdb->get_var( $wpdb->prepare( "SELECT COUNT(*) FROM $wpdb->comments WHERE comment_post_ID = %d AND comment_approved = '1'", $post_id ) );
+		$bad_parents = array();
+		$_bad_parents = $wpdb->get_col( "SELECT comment_ID from $wpdb->comments WHERE comment_post_ID = $post_id AND comment_approved != '1'" );
+
+		if ( ! empty( $_bad_parents ) ) {
+			do {
+				$children = $wpdb->get_col( "SELECT comment_ID from $wpdb->comments WHERE comment_post_ID = $post_id AND comment_parent IN ( " . implode( ',', array_map( 'intval', $_bad_parents ) ) . ' )' );
+				$bad_parents = array_merge( $bad_parents, $_bad_parents, $children );
+				$_bad_parents = array_unique( $children );
+			} while ( $children );
+		}
+
+		$bad_parent_query = null;
+		$bad_parents = array_unique( $bad_parents );
+		if ( ! empty( $_bad_parents ) ) {
+			$bad_parents = implode( ',', array_map( 'intval', $bad_parents ) );
+			$bad_parent_query = " AND comment_parent NOT IN ( $bad_parents )";
+		}
+
+		$new = (int) $wpdb->get_var( $wpdb->prepare( "SELECT COUNT(*) FROM $wpdb->comments WHERE comment_post_ID = %d AND comment_approved = '1'" . $bad_parent_query, $post_id ) );
 	} else {
 		$new = (int) $new;
 	}
@@ -2841,9 +2859,9 @@ function wp_update_comment_count_now( $post_id ) {
 	return true;
 }
 
-//
-// Ping and trackback functions.
-//
+/**
+ * Ping and trackback functions.
+ */
 
 /**
  * Finds a pingback server URI based on the given URL.
@@ -2866,10 +2884,14 @@ function discover_pingback_server_uri( $url, $deprecated = '' ) {
 	$pingback_str_dquote = 'rel="pingback"';
 	$pingback_str_squote = 'rel=\'pingback\'';
 
-	/** @todo Should use Filter Extension or custom preg_match instead. */
+	/**
+	* @todo Should use Filter Extension or custom preg_match instead.
+	*/
 	$parsed_url = parse_url( $url );
 
-	if ( ! isset( $parsed_url['host'] ) ) { // Not a URL. This should never happen.
+	// Not a URL. This should never happen.
+	if ( ! isset( $parsed_url['host'] ) ) {
+
 		return false;
 	}
 
diff --git a/tests/phpunit/tests/comment/wpUpdateCommentCountNow.php b/tests/phpunit/tests/comment/wpUpdateCommentCountNow.php
index 343693484596d..cc2b360811714 100644
--- a/tests/phpunit/tests/comment/wpUpdateCommentCountNow.php
+++ b/tests/phpunit/tests/comment/wpUpdateCommentCountNow.php
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ public function test_regular_post_updates_comment_count() {
 
 		$num_queries = get_num_queries();
 		$this->assertTrue( wp_update_comment_count_now( $post_id ) );
-		$this->assertSame( $num_queries + 2, get_num_queries() );
+		$this->assertSame( $num_queries + 3, get_num_queries() );
 
 		$this->assertSame( '1', get_comments_number( $post_id ) );
 	}