diff --git a/src/wp-includes/formatting.php b/src/wp-includes/formatting.php
index e618536f41..1a109f108a 100644
--- a/src/wp-includes/formatting.php
+++ b/src/wp-includes/formatting.php
@@ -4717,6 +4717,7 @@ function esc_attr( $text ) {
  * @return string
  */
 function esc_textarea( $text ) {
+	$text = is_null($text) ? '' : $text;
 	$safe_text = htmlspecialchars( $text, ENT_QUOTES, get_option( 'blog_charset' ) );
 	/**
 	 * Filters a string cleaned and escaped for output in a textarea element.