diff --git a/sdbusplus/asio/sd_event.hpp b/sdbusplus/asio/sd_event.hpp
index 747c240..14ade7c 100644
--- a/sdbusplus/asio/sd_event.hpp
+++ b/sdbusplus/asio/sd_event.hpp
@@ -52,6 +52,9 @@
     }
     ~sd_event_wrapper()
     {
+        // sd_event really wants to close the descriptor on its own
+        // so this class must merely release it
+        descriptor.release();
         sd_event_unref(evt);
     }
     // process one event step in the queue