diff --git a/plugins/python/wsgi_headers.c b/plugins/python/wsgi_headers.c
index 93aadf73..dd803b35 100644
--- a/plugins/python/wsgi_headers.c
+++ b/plugins/python/wsgi_headers.c
@@ -114,6 +114,10 @@ PyObject *py_uwsgi_spit(PyObject * self, PyObject * args) {
 		wsgi_req->hvec[2].iov_len = NL_SIZE;
 	}
 
+	// incref status line
+	wsgi_req->status_header = head;
+	Py_INCREF((PyObject *)wsgi_req->status_header);
+
 	headers = PyTuple_GetItem(args, 1);
 	if (!headers) {
 		return PyErr_Format(PyExc_TypeError, "start_response() takes at least 2 arguments");
@@ -258,6 +262,8 @@ int uwsgi_python_do_send_headers(struct wsgi_request *wsgi_req) {
 
 	wsgi_req->headers_sent = 1;
 
+	Py_DECREF((PyObject *)wsgi_req->status_header);
+
         if (wsgi_req->write_errors > uwsgi.write_errors_tolerance && !uwsgi.disable_write_exception) {
                 uwsgi_py_write_set_exception(wsgi_req);
                 return -1;
diff --git a/uwsgi.h b/uwsgi.h
index 85fcdb1d..b8f9d503 100644
--- a/uwsgi.h
+++ b/uwsgi.h
@@ -896,6 +896,7 @@ struct wsgi_request {
 	int do_not_add_to_async_queue;
 
 	int status;
+	void *status_header;
 	size_t response_size;
 	ssize_t headers_size;