diff --git a/drivers/regulator/core.c b/drivers/regulator/core.c
index cd87c0c37034..55a87a2722d8 100644
--- a/drivers/regulator/core.c
+++ b/drivers/regulator/core.c
@@ -3650,7 +3650,8 @@ regulator_register(const struct regulator_desc *regulator_desc,
 
 	dev_set_drvdata(&rdev->dev, rdev);
 
-	if (config->ena_gpio && gpio_is_valid(config->ena_gpio)) {
+	if ((config->ena_gpio || config->ena_gpio_initialized) &&
+	    gpio_is_valid(config->ena_gpio)) {
 		ret = regulator_ena_gpio_request(rdev, config);
 		if (ret != 0) {
 			rdev_err(rdev, "Failed to request enable GPIO%d: %d\n",
diff --git a/include/linux/regulator/driver.h b/include/linux/regulator/driver.h
index fc0ee0ce8325..28da08e4671f 100644
--- a/include/linux/regulator/driver.h
+++ b/include/linux/regulator/driver.h
@@ -301,6 +301,9 @@ struct regulator_desc {
  *           NULL).
  * @regmap: regmap to use for core regmap helpers if dev_get_regulator() is
  *          insufficient.
+ * @ena_gpio_initialized: GPIO controlling regulator enable was properly
+ *                        initialized, meaning that >= 0 is a valid gpio
+ *                        identifier and < 0 is a non existent gpio.
  * @ena_gpio: GPIO controlling regulator enable.
  * @ena_gpio_invert: Sense for GPIO enable control.
  * @ena_gpio_flags: Flags to use when calling gpio_request_one()
@@ -312,6 +315,7 @@ struct regulator_config {
 	struct device_node *of_node;
 	struct regmap *regmap;
 
+	bool ena_gpio_initialized;
 	int ena_gpio;
 	unsigned int ena_gpio_invert:1;
 	unsigned int ena_gpio_flags;