diff --git a/Modules/gcmodule.c b/Modules/gcmodule.c
index 2741edc0a0211c..b2ee56623cd484 100644
--- a/Modules/gcmodule.c
+++ b/Modules/gcmodule.c
@@ -376,6 +376,8 @@ static int
 visit_decref(PyObject *op, void *data)
 {
     assert(op != NULL);
+    _PyObject_ASSERT(op, !_PyObject_IsFreed(op));
+
     if (PyObject_IS_GC(op)) {
         PyGC_Head *gc = AS_GC(op);
         /* We're only interested in gc_refs for objects in the