diff --git a/packages/datadog-plugin-http/src/client.js b/packages/datadog-plugin-http/src/client.js
index bf1e416e62f..94725ed95c8 100644
--- a/packages/datadog-plugin-http/src/client.js
+++ b/packages/datadog-plugin-http/src/client.js
@@ -102,7 +102,9 @@ class HttpClientPlugin extends ClientPlugin {
       addResponseHeaders(res, span, this.config)
     }
 
-    addRequestHeaders(req, span, this.config)
+    if (req) {
+      addRequestHeaders(req, span, this.config)
+    }
 
     this.config.hooks.request(span, req, res)
 
diff --git a/packages/datadog-plugin-http/test/client.spec.js b/packages/datadog-plugin-http/test/client.spec.js
index 3415d92948d..6af6011b872 100644
--- a/packages/datadog-plugin-http/test/client.spec.js
+++ b/packages/datadog-plugin-http/test/client.spec.js
@@ -944,9 +944,13 @@ describe('Plugin', () => {
             .then(done)
             .catch(done)
 
-          http.request('https://httpbin.org/get', { headers: { BadHeader: 'a\nb' } }, res => {
-            res.on('data', () => { })
-          })
+          try {
+            http.request('http://httpbin.org/get', { headers: { BadHeader: 'a\nb' } }, res => {
+              res.on('data', () => { })
+            })
+          } catch {
+            // expected to throw error
+          }
         })
       })