diff --git a/lib/_http_agent.js b/lib/_http_agent.js
index 303f56bfe4ba21..67f3d667b28169 100644
--- a/lib/_http_agent.js
+++ b/lib/_http_agent.js
@@ -276,7 +276,6 @@ function installListeners(agent, s, options) {
     s.removeListener('close', onClose);
     s.removeListener('free', onFree);
     s.removeListener('agentRemove', onRemove);
-    s._httpMessage = null;
   }
   s.on('agentRemove', onRemove);
 }
diff --git a/lib/_http_client.js b/lib/_http_client.js
index 4b21cee745b3ce..4542a81cf0e9a1 100644
--- a/lib/_http_client.js
+++ b/lib/_http_client.js
@@ -467,6 +467,7 @@ function socketOnData(d) {
       socket.removeListener('close', socketCloseListener);
       socket.removeListener('error', socketErrorListener);
 
+      socket._httpMessage = null;
       socket.readableFlowing = null;
 
       req.emit(eventName, res, socket, bodyHead);
diff --git a/test/parallel/test-http-agent-remove.js b/test/parallel/test-http-agent-remove.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..24fc7fcb8282fe
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/parallel/test-http-agent-remove.js
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+'use strict';
+const { mustCall } = require('../common');
+
+const http = require('http');
+const { strictEqual } = require('assert');
+
+const server = http.createServer(mustCall((req, res) => {
+  res.flushHeaders();
+}));
+
+server.listen(0, mustCall(() => {
+  const req = http.get({
+    port: server.address().port
+  }, mustCall(() => {
+    const { socket } = req;
+    socket.emit('agentRemove');
+    strictEqual(socket._httpMessage, req);
+    socket.destroy();
+    server.close();
+  }));
+}));