The 'Ermahgerd' meme star is looks nothing like the retainer-wearing pre-adolescent girl

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The unwitting star of the 'Ermahgerd' memes is all grown up, and she looks nothing like the retainer-wearing pre-adolescent girl in the immortal photo
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Maggie Goldenberger, now a blonde-haired, blue-eyed 26-year-old with straight teeth, spoke to Vanity Fair about being an Internet meme
The Phoenix nurse was traveling in India with her then-girlfriend when a friend alerted her to the photo on Facebook
She says her Internet fame is incredibly 'weird', and reveals a scary incident when a bounty hunter tracked her down in Hawaii

Published: 14:59 EST, 16 October 2015 | Updated: 16:17 EST, 16 October 2015

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Remember the awkward pre-adolescent girl wearing a retainer and making a grimacing facial expression who spawned the ubiquitous 'Ermahgerd' memes?

Well, she's all grown up now, and she looks almost unrecognizable compared to the nerdy, Goosebump book-touting 11-year-old she once was.

Maggie Goldenberger, now a blonde-haired, blue-eyed 26-year-old with straight teeth, spoke to Vanity Fair about the infamous photo, how she reacted when she learned it was taking over the Internet, and what it's like to be a meme.

Remember her? The awkward pre-adolescent wearing a retainer and making a grimacing facial expression who spawned the ubiquitous 'Ermahgerd' memes has been revealed as Maggie Goldenberger, 26

All grown up: Maggie (left), who is now a nurse living in Phoenix, was traveling in India with her then-girlfriend (not pictured) three years ago when a friend alerted her to the meme

The Phoenix nurse says she was traveling from India to the Philippines with her then-girlfriend when she received a message from a pal in the US who had spotted the meme on Facebook, which read: 'Ermahgerd Gersberms'.

'I had no idea at this point how widespread it was,' shared Maggie, who was known on the Internet as 'Berks' due to a later iteration of the meme that said: 'Gersberms. Mah Fravrit Berks.’

Now, three years later, she still comes across the unfortunate image online, and her reaction is always the same.

'My eyes just get wide and I say, out loud: "This is so f*****g weird,' Maggie admitted.

She went on to share: 'I just can't believe this is my 15 minutes of fame - I was hoping it would come in another form. But I guess you have to take what you can get.'

The nurse, who at the time had no idea how her photo entered the meme-o-sphere, has since learned what happened.

All smiles: Today, Maggie hardly resembles the 11-year-old girl in the photo. She reveals the Polaroid was taken by her friend Kaelyn while they were playing dress-up

Unwitting star: Maggie says she still comes across the meme three years later, and it's always incredibly 'weird'

Book lover: The meme was created after Reddit user Jeff Davis, of Alberta, Canada, found the photo of Maggie on Facebook and uploaded it to a thread

So many iterations: The 'Ermahgerd' meme snowballed into hundreds of different versions, such as this one above, in which Maggie's Goosebumps books have been replaced by boxes of instant mashed potatoes

Reddit user Jeff Davis, who was 16 at the time and living in Alberta, Canada, found the photo, a Polaroid taken by Maggie's friend Kaelyn, on a publicly visible Facebook album, and posted it on a thread titled: 'Just a book owners smile [sic]'.

Soon after, a 33-year-old analyst in Seattle, added 'GERSBERMS. MAH FRAVRIT BERKS' to the image, and then another person later put 'ERMAGHERD' on the photo.

The meme has gone through hundreds of different iterations, with a person photoshopping mashed potato boxes into her hands, and another Internet user replacing the Goosebumps books with a Batman seal.

Inspired by Stan's lisping older sister Shelly from South Park, the Seattle-based Reddit user shared: 'The level of excitement in her face, the braces, and the outfit just screamed awkward tween years.'

Regarding the day that the notorious photo was taken, Maggie revealed that she and her friend Kaelyn were playing dress-up.

So pretty: Maggie says she intentionally wore her retainer and hair in pigtails for the silly photo. 'It was a middle schooler’s perspective of what funny is,' she says

Ridiculous: The meme has so many versions, like this one where the Batman emblem in photoshopped in place of her books, that it's impossible to keep track of which ones came first

Happy adult: Maggie says her Internet fame has been mostly harmless, however, one scary incident occurred when an anonymous bounty hunter tracked her down in Hawaii and posted a photo of her in a bikini online

Still surprised: 'I just can't believe this is my 15 minutes of fame,' Maggie said of the immortal meme

'I remember having a lot of fun picking out the items, and Kaelyn running downstairs to pick out books,' shared Maggie, who said she intentionally wore her retainer and hair in pigtails for the silly photo.

'It was a middle schooler’s perspective of what funny is, so I’m always surprised when adults are such fans,' offered Maggie.

And while her Internet fame has been mostly harmless, the nurse revealed there was one scary incident when an anonymous bounty hunter tracked her down in Hawaii and posted a photo of her in a bikini online.

'I have no idea who did that,' shared Maggie, adding: 'And if I'm going to have a bikini shot floating around on the Internet, I’d like to be spray tanned and under a waterfall somewhere.'