diff --git a/gio/glocalfilemonitor.c b/gio/glocalfilemonitor.c
index 4f85fea52..f408d0707 100644
--- a/gio/glocalfilemonitor.c
+++ b/gio/glocalfilemonitor.c
@@ -348,7 +348,6 @@ g_file_monitor_source_handle_event (GFileMonitorSource *fms,
                                     gint64              event_time)
 {
   gboolean interesting = TRUE;
-  GFileMonitor *instance = NULL;
 
   g_assert (!child || is_basename (child));
   g_assert (!rename_to || is_basename (rename_to));
@@ -359,13 +358,11 @@ g_file_monitor_source_handle_event (GFileMonitorSource *fms,
 
   g_mutex_lock (&fms->lock);
 
-  /* monitor is already gone -- don't bother */
-  instance = g_weak_ref_get (&fms->instance_ref);
-  if (instance == NULL)
-    {
-      g_mutex_unlock (&fms->lock);
-      return TRUE;
-    }
+  /* NOTE: We process events even if the file monitor has already been disposed.
+   *       The reason is that we must not take a reference to the instance here
+   *       as destroying it from the event handling thread will lead to a
+   *       deadlock when taking the lock in _ih_sub_cancel.
+   */
 
   switch (event_type)
     {
@@ -452,7 +449,6 @@ g_file_monitor_source_handle_event (GFileMonitorSource *fms,
   g_file_monitor_source_update_ready_time (fms);
 
   g_mutex_unlock (&fms->lock);
-  g_clear_object (&instance);
 
   return interesting;
 }