diff --git a/components/esp_http_client/esp_http_client.c b/components/esp_http_client/esp_http_client.c
index 1e79f2a560..52142c158b 100644
--- a/components/esp_http_client/esp_http_client.c
+++ b/components/esp_http_client/esp_http_client.c
@@ -512,6 +512,10 @@ static esp_err_t esp_http_client_prepare(esp_http_client_handle_t client)
     client->process_again = 0;
     client->response->data_process = 0;
     client->first_line_prepared = false;
+    if (client->location != NULL) {
+        free(client->location);
+        client->location = NULL;
+    }
     http_parser_init(client->parser, HTTP_RESPONSE);
     if (client->connection_info.username) {
         char *auth_response = NULL;