diff --git a/jOOQ/src/main/java/org/jooq/impl/AbstractRecord.java b/jOOQ/src/main/java/org/jooq/impl/AbstractRecord.java
index b6f58ff05b..a7367a0181 100644
--- a/jOOQ/src/main/java/org/jooq/impl/AbstractRecord.java
+++ b/jOOQ/src/main/java/org/jooq/impl/AbstractRecord.java
@@ -375,8 +375,8 @@ abstract class AbstractRecord extends AbstractStore implements Record {
         safeIndex(fieldIndex);
 
         if (field(fieldIndex).getType() == String.class) {
-            values[fieldIndex] = ((String) values[fieldIndex]).intern();
-            originals[fieldIndex] = ((String) originals[fieldIndex]).intern();
+            values[fieldIndex] = intern((String) values[fieldIndex]);
+            originals[fieldIndex] = intern((String) originals[fieldIndex]);
         }
     }
 
@@ -387,6 +387,10 @@ abstract class AbstractRecord extends AbstractStore implements Record {
         throw new IllegalArgumentException("No field at index " + index + " in Record type " + fieldsRow());
     }
 
+    final String intern(String string) {
+        return string == null ? null : string.intern();
+    }
+
     /**
      * Subclasses may override this
      */