diff --git a/src/html/htmlwin.cpp b/src/html/htmlwin.cpp
index 19c57ef57c..86e997045a 100644
--- a/src/html/htmlwin.cpp
+++ b/src/html/htmlwin.cpp
@@ -468,8 +468,14 @@ bool wxHtmlWindow::DoSetPage(const wxString& source)
     SetBackgroundImage(wxNullBitmap);
 
     m_Parser->SetDC(dc);
-
-    delete m_Cell;
+    if (m_Cell)
+    {
+        delete m_Cell;
+        // notice that it's important to set m_Cell to NULL here before calling
+        // Parse() below, even if it will be overwritten by its return value:
+        // without this we may crash if it's used from inside Parse()
+        m_Cell = NULL;
+    }
     m_Cell = (wxHtmlContainerCell*) m_Parser->Parse(newsrc);
     delete dc;
     m_Cell->SetIndent(m_Borders, wxHTML_INDENT_ALL, wxHTML_UNITS_PIXELS);