diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Core_and_Builtins/2025-04-01-19-25-05.gh-issue-131988.sbYLEs.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Core_and_Builtins/2025-04-01-19-25-05.gh-issue-131988.sbYLEs.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..44f71238739
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Core_and_Builtins/2025-04-01-19-25-05.gh-issue-131988.sbYLEs.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+Fix a performance regression that caused scaling bottlenecks in the free
+threaded build in 3.13.1 and 3.13.2.
diff --git a/Python/pystate.c b/Python/pystate.c
index 900cba0de15..5222a7ec140 100644
--- a/Python/pystate.c
+++ b/Python/pystate.c
@@ -1587,10 +1587,10 @@ new_threadstate(PyInterpreterState *interp, int whence)
 
     HEAD_UNLOCK(interp->runtime);
 #ifdef Py_GIL_DISABLED
-    if (id == 1) {
+    if (id > 1) {
         if (_Py_atomic_load_int(&interp->gc.immortalize) == 0) {
             // Immortalize objects marked as using deferred reference counting
-            // the first time a non-main thread is created.
+            // once a non-main thread is created, if we haven't already done so.
             _PyGC_ImmortalizeDeferredObjects(interp);
         }
     }