diff --git a/pkg/controller/garbagecollector/graph.go b/pkg/controller/garbagecollector/graph.go
index 252a56e98a9..d98b83b7d54 100644
--- a/pkg/controller/garbagecollector/graph.go
+++ b/pkg/controller/garbagecollector/graph.go
@@ -61,6 +61,25 @@ type node struct {
 	owners []metav1.OwnerReference
 }
 
+// clone() must only be called from the single-threaded GraphBuilder.processGraphChanges()
+func (n *node) clone() *node {
+	c := &node{
+		identity:           n.identity,
+		dependents:         make(map[*node]struct{}, len(n.dependents)),
+		deletingDependents: n.deletingDependents,
+		beingDeleted:       n.beingDeleted,
+		virtual:            n.virtual,
+		owners:             make([]metav1.OwnerReference, 0, len(n.owners)),
+	}
+	for dep := range n.dependents {
+		c.dependents[dep] = struct{}{}
+	}
+	for _, owner := range n.owners {
+		c.owners = append(c.owners, owner)
+	}
+	return c
+}
+
 // An object is on a one way trip to its final deletion if it starts being
 // deleted, so we only provide a function to set beingDeleted to true.
 func (n *node) markBeingDeleted() {
diff --git a/pkg/controller/garbagecollector/graph_builder.go b/pkg/controller/garbagecollector/graph_builder.go
index ddf4037abc9..1de1685f165 100644
--- a/pkg/controller/garbagecollector/graph_builder.go
+++ b/pkg/controller/garbagecollector/graph_builder.go
@@ -567,6 +567,14 @@ func (gb *GraphBuilder) processGraphChanges() bool {
 		// this marks the node as having been observed via an informer event
 		// 1. this depends on graphChanges only containing add/update events from the actual informer
 		// 2. this allows things tracking virtual nodes' existence to stop polling and rely on informer events
+		observedIdentity := identityFromEvent(event, accessor)
+		if observedIdentity != existingNode.identity {
+			// make a copy (so we don't modify the existing node in place), store the observed identity, and replace the virtual node
+			klog.V(2).Infof("replacing virtual node %s with observed node %s", existingNode.identity, observedIdentity)
+			existingNode = existingNode.clone()
+			existingNode.identity = observedIdentity
+			gb.uidToNode.Write(existingNode)
+		}
 		existingNode.markObserved()
 	}
 	switch {