diff --git a/GObject.xs b/GObject.xs
index 53ee0cc..20b5262 100644
--- a/GObject.xs
+++ b/GObject.xs
@@ -788,6 +788,13 @@ gobject_destroy_wrapper (SV *obj)
 	 * otherwise end up with undead HVs hanging on to garbage.  Prior to
 	 * 5.16, this did not matter, but recent versions of perl will find
 	 * these HVs and call DESTROY on them. */
+#if PERL_API_VERSION <= 14
+        /* For older versions though, the HVs or the interpreter are already
+         * dead, so either trying to access the HV or perl internals will
+         * cause a segmentation fault. */
+        if (PL_in_clean_objs || IS_UNDEAD (obj))
+                return;
+#endif
 
 #ifdef NOISY
         warn ("gobject_destroy_wrapper (%p)[%d]\n", obj,