diff --git a/src/internal/operators/OperatorSubscriber.ts b/src/internal/operators/OperatorSubscriber.ts
index d664b2755b..2aac551f5d 100644
--- a/src/internal/operators/OperatorSubscriber.ts
+++ b/src/internal/operators/OperatorSubscriber.ts
@@ -38,13 +38,18 @@ export class OperatorSubscriber<T> extends Subscriber<T> {
    * this handler are sent to the `destination` error handler.
    * @param onFinalize Additional teardown logic here. This will only be called on teardown if the
    * subscriber itself is not already closed. This is called after all other teardown logic is executed.
+   * @param shouldUnsubscribe An optional check to see if an unsubscribe call should truly unsubscribe.
+   * NOTE: This currently **ONLY** exists to support the strange behavior of {@link groupBy}, where unsubscription
+   * to the resulting observable does not actually disconnect from the source if there are active subscriptions
+   * to any grouped observable. (DO NOT EXPOSE OR USE EXTERNALLY!!!)
    */
   constructor(
     destination: Subscriber<any>,
     onNext?: (value: T) => void,
     onComplete?: () => void,
     onError?: (err: any) => void,
-    private onFinalize?: () => void
+    private onFinalize?: () => void,
+    private shouldUnsubscribe?: () => boolean
   ) {
     // It's important - for performance reasons - that all of this class's
     // members are initialized and that they are always initialized in the same
@@ -97,9 +102,11 @@ export class OperatorSubscriber<T> extends Subscriber<T> {
   }
 
   unsubscribe() {
-    const { closed } = this;
-    super.unsubscribe();
-    // Execute additional teardown if we have any and we didn't already do so.
-    !closed && this.onFinalize?.();
+    if (!this.shouldUnsubscribe || this.shouldUnsubscribe()) {
+      const { closed } = this;
+      super.unsubscribe();
+      // Execute additional teardown if we have any and we didn't already do so.
+      !closed && this.onFinalize?.();
+    }
   }
 }
diff --git a/src/internal/operators/groupBy.ts b/src/internal/operators/groupBy.ts
index 1f85a7a111..87aba89dc1 100644
--- a/src/internal/operators/groupBy.ts
+++ b/src/internal/operators/groupBy.ts
@@ -165,6 +165,12 @@ export function groupBy<T, K, R>(
     // next call from the source.
     const handleError = (err: any) => notify((consumer) => consumer.error(err));
 
+    // The number of actively subscribed groups
+    let activeGroups = 0;
+
+    // Whether or not teardown was attempted on this subscription.
+    let teardownAttempted = false;
+
     // Capturing a reference to this, because we need a handle to it
     // in `createGroupedObservable` below. This is what we use to
     // subscribe to our source observable. This sometimes needs to be unsubscribed
@@ -172,7 +178,7 @@ export function groupBy<T, K, R>(
     // in cases where a user unsubscribes from the main resulting subscription, but
     // still has groups from this subscription subscribed and would expect values from it
     // Consider:  `source.pipe(groupBy(fn), take(2))`.
-    const groupBySourceSubscriber = new GroupBySubscriber(
+    const groupBySourceSubscriber = new OperatorSubscriber(
       subscriber,
       (value: T) => {
         // Because we have to notify all groups of any errors that occur in here,
@@ -234,7 +240,14 @@ export function groupBy<T, K, R>(
       // When the source subscription is _finally_ torn down, release the subjects and keys
       // in our groups Map, they may be quite large and we don't want to keep them around if we
       // don't have to.
-      () => groups.clear()
+      () => groups.clear(),
+      () => {
+        teardownAttempted = true;
+        // We only kill our subscription to the source if we have
+        // no active groups. As stated above, consider this scenario:
+        // source$.pipe(groupBy(fn), take(2)).
+        return activeGroups === 0;
+      }
     );
 
     // Subscribe to the source
@@ -247,16 +260,14 @@ export function groupBy<T, K, R>(
      */
     function createGroupedObservable(key: K, groupSubject: SubjectLike<any>) {
       const result: any = new Observable<T>((groupSubscriber) => {
-        groupBySourceSubscriber.activeGroups++;
+        activeGroups++;
         const innerSub = groupSubject.subscribe(groupSubscriber);
         return () => {
           innerSub.unsubscribe();
           // We can kill the subscription to our source if we now have no more
           // active groups subscribed, and a teardown was already attempted on
           // the source.
-          --groupBySourceSubscriber.activeGroups === 0 &&
-            groupBySourceSubscriber.teardownAttempted &&
-            groupBySourceSubscriber.unsubscribe();
+          --activeGroups === 0 && teardownAttempted && groupBySourceSubscriber.unsubscribe();
         };
       });
       result.key = key;
@@ -265,30 +276,6 @@ export function groupBy<T, K, R>(
   });
 }
 
-/**
- * This was created because groupBy is a bit unique, in that emitted groups that have
- * subscriptions have to keep the subscription to the source alive until they
- * are torn down.
- */
-class GroupBySubscriber<T> extends OperatorSubscriber<T> {
-  /**
-   * The number of actively subscribed groups
-   */
-  activeGroups = 0;
-  /**
-   * Whether or not teardown was attempted on this subscription.
-   */
-  teardownAttempted = false;
-
-  unsubscribe() {
-    this.teardownAttempted = true;
-    // We only kill our subscription to the source if we have
-    // no active groups. As stated above, consider this scenario:
-    // source$.pipe(groupBy(fn), take(2)).
-    this.activeGroups === 0 && super.unsubscribe();
-  }
-}
-
 /**
  * An observable of values that is the emitted by the result of a {@link groupBy} operator,
  * contains a `key` property for the grouping.