diff --git src/wp-includes/comment-template.php src/wp-includes/comment-template.php
index 84a60db..f19d1a9 100644
--- src/wp-includes/comment-template.php
+++ src/wp-includes/comment-template.php
@@ -1313,12 +1313,19 @@ function comments_template( $file = '/comments.php', $separate_comments = false
 		} else {
 			// If fetching the first page of 'newest', we need a top-level comment count.
 			$top_level_query = new WP_Comment_Query();
-			$top_level_count = $top_level_query->query( array(
+			$top_level_args  = array(
 				'count'   => true,
 				'orderby' => false,
 				'post_id' => $post->ID,
 				'parent'  => 0,
-			) );
+				'status'  => 'approve',
+			);
+
+			if ( isset( $comment_args['include_unapproved'] ) ) {
+				$top_level_args['include_unapproved'] = $comment_args['include_unapproved'];
+			}
+
+			$top_level_count = $top_level_query->query( $top_level_args );
 
 			$comment_args['offset'] = ( ceil( $top_level_count / $per_page ) - 1 ) * $per_page;
 		}
diff --git tests/phpunit/tests/comment/commentsTemplate.php tests/phpunit/tests/comment/commentsTemplate.php
index c112924..1c841f4 100644
--- tests/phpunit/tests/comment/commentsTemplate.php
+++ tests/phpunit/tests/comment/commentsTemplate.php
@@ -573,4 +573,122 @@ class Tests_Comment_CommentsTemplate extends WP_UnitTestCase {
 			$this->assertContains( 'cpage=1', $m );
 		}
 	}
+
+	/**
+	 * @ticket 35068
+	 */
+	public function test_query_offset_should_not_include_unapproved_comments() {
+		$now = time();
+		$p = self::factory()->post->create();
+		$comment_1 = self::factory()->comment->create( array(
+			'comment_post_ID' => $p,
+			'comment_content' => '1',
+			'comment_approved' => '0',
+			'comment_date_gmt' => date( 'Y-m-d H:i:s', $now - 100 ),
+		) );
+		$comment_2 = self::factory()->comment->create( array(
+			'comment_post_ID' => $p,
+			'comment_content' => '2',
+			'comment_approved' => '0',
+			'comment_date_gmt' => date( 'Y-m-d H:i:s', $now - 200 ),
+		) );
+		$comment_3 = self::factory()->comment->create( array(
+			'comment_post_ID' => $p,
+			'comment_content' => '3',
+			'comment_approved' => '0',
+			'comment_date_gmt' => date( 'Y-m-d H:i:s', $now - 300 ),
+		) );
+		$comment_4 = self::factory()->comment->create( array(
+			'comment_post_ID' => $p,
+			'comment_content' => '4',
+			'comment_approved' => '1',
+			'comment_date_gmt' => date( 'Y-m-d H:i:s', $now - 400 ),
+		) );
+
+		update_option( 'comment_order', 'asc' );
+		update_option( 'default_comments_page', 'newest' );
+		update_option( 'page_comments', 1 );
+		update_option( 'comments_per_page', 2 );
+
+		$this->go_to( get_permalink( $p ) );
+		$found = get_echo( 'comments_template' );
+
+		// Find the found comments in the markup.
+		preg_match_all( '|id="comment-([0-9]+)|', $found, $matches );
+
+		$found_cids = array_map( 'intval', $matches[1] );
+		$this->assertSame( array( $comment_4 ), $found_cids );
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * @ticket 35068
+	 * @group bbg
+	 */
+	public function test_query_offset_should_include_unapproved_comments() {
+		$comment_author_email = 'foo@example.com';
+
+		$now = time();
+		$p = self::factory()->post->create();
+		$comment_1 = self::factory()->comment->create( array(
+			'comment_post_ID' => $p,
+			'comment_content' => '1',
+			'comment_approved' => '0',
+			'comment_date_gmt' => date( 'Y-m-d H:i:s', $now - 100 ),
+		) );
+		$comment_2 = self::factory()->comment->create( array(
+			'comment_post_ID' => $p,
+			'comment_content' => '2',
+			'comment_approved' => '0',
+			'comment_date_gmt' => date( 'Y-m-d H:i:s', $now - 200 ),
+		) );
+		$comment_3 = self::factory()->comment->create( array(
+			'comment_post_ID' => $p,
+			'comment_content' => '3',
+			'comment_approved' => '0',
+			'comment_date_gmt' => date( 'Y-m-d H:i:s', $now - 100 ),
+			'comment_author_email' => $comment_author_email,
+		) );
+		$comment_4 = self::factory()->comment->create( array(
+			'comment_post_ID' => $p,
+			'comment_content' => '4',
+			'comment_approved' => '0',
+			'comment_date_gmt' => date( 'Y-m-d H:i:s', $now - 200 ),
+			'comment_author_email' => $comment_author_email,
+		) );
+		$comment_5 = self::factory()->comment->create( array(
+			'comment_post_ID' => $p,
+			'comment_content' => '5',
+			'comment_approved' => '0',
+			'comment_date_gmt' => date( 'Y-m-d H:i:s', $now - 300 ),
+			'comment_author_email' => $comment_author_email,
+		) );
+		$comment_6 = self::factory()->comment->create( array(
+			'comment_post_ID' => $p,
+			'comment_content' => '6',
+			'comment_approved' => '1',
+			'comment_date_gmt' => date( 'Y-m-d H:i:s', $now - 400 ),
+		) );
+		var_dump( $comment_1, $comment_2, $comment_3, $comment_4, $comment_5, $comment_6 );
+
+		update_option( 'comment_order', 'asc' );
+		update_option( 'default_comments_page', 'newest' );
+		update_option( 'page_comments', 1 );
+		update_option( 'comments_per_page', 2 );
+
+		add_filter( 'wp_get_current_commenter', array( $this, 'fake_current_commenter' ) );
+		$this->go_to( get_permalink( $p ) );
+		$found = get_echo( 'comments_template' );
+		remove_filter( 'wp_get_current_commenter', array( $this, 'fake_current_commenter' ) );
+
+		// Find the found comments in the markup.
+		preg_match_all( '|id="comment-([0-9]+)|', $found, $matches );
+
+		$found_cids = array_map( 'intval', $matches[1] );
+		$this->assertSame( array( $comment_4, $comment_3 ), $found_cids );
+	}
+
+	public function fake_current_commenter( $commenter ) {
+		$commenter['comment_author_email'] = 'foo@example.com';
+		return $commenter;
+	}
 }