diff --git a/news/13156.bugfix.rst b/news/13156.bugfix.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..e0553030070
--- /dev/null
+++ b/news/13156.bugfix.rst
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Show the correct path to the interpreter also when it's a symlink in a venv in the pip upgrade prompt.
diff --git a/src/pip/_internal/utils/entrypoints.py b/src/pip/_internal/utils/entrypoints.py
index 15013693854..696148c5097 100644
--- a/src/pip/_internal/utils/entrypoints.py
+++ b/src/pip/_internal/utils/entrypoints.py
@@ -77,7 +77,10 @@ def get_best_invocation_for_this_python() -> str:
 
     # Try to use the basename, if it's the first executable.
     found_executable = shutil.which(exe_name)
-    if found_executable and os.path.samefile(found_executable, exe):
+    # Virtual environments often symlink to their parent Python binaries, but we don't
+    # want to treat the Python binaries as equivalent when the environment's Python is
+    # not on PATH (not activated). Thus, we don't follow symlinks.
+    if found_executable and os.path.samestat(os.lstat(found_executable), os.lstat(exe)):
         return exe_name
 
     # Use the full executable name, because we couldn't find something simpler.