diff --git a/include/rocksdb/slice.h b/include/rocksdb/slice.h
index 76ecce684..e6d8dfc60 100644
--- a/include/rocksdb/slice.h
+++ b/include/rocksdb/slice.h
@@ -43,7 +43,9 @@ class Slice {
 
   // Create a slice that refers to s[0,strlen(s)-1]
   /* implicit */
-  Slice(const char* s) : data_(s), size_(strlen(s)) { }
+  Slice(const char* s) : data_(s) {
+    size_ = (s == nullptr) ? 0 : strlen(s);
+  }
 
   // Create a single slice from SliceParts using buf as storage.
   // buf must exist as long as the returned Slice exists.