diff --git a/spring-boot-project/spring-boot-actuator/src/main/java/org/springframework/boot/actuate/metrics/web/client/MetricsClientHttpRequestInterceptor.java b/spring-boot-project/spring-boot-actuator/src/main/java/org/springframework/boot/actuate/metrics/web/client/MetricsClientHttpRequestInterceptor.java
index 1c4f79e282..08044ed650 100644
--- a/spring-boot-project/spring-boot-actuator/src/main/java/org/springframework/boot/actuate/metrics/web/client/MetricsClientHttpRequestInterceptor.java
+++ b/spring-boot-project/spring-boot-actuator/src/main/java/org/springframework/boot/actuate/metrics/web/client/MetricsClientHttpRequestInterceptor.java
@@ -105,7 +105,7 @@ class MetricsClientHttpRequestInterceptor implements ClientHttpRequestIntercepto
 	}
 
 	private String ensureLeadingSlash(String url) {
-		return (url.startsWith("/") ? url : "/" + url);
+		return (url == null || url.startsWith("/") ? url : "/" + url);
 	}
 
 }