diff --git a/src/nvim/register.c b/src/nvim/register.c
index 5ccf5ab1e0..fcbd16be90 100644
--- a/src/nvim/register.c
+++ b/src/nvim/register.c
@@ -986,14 +986,13 @@ void free_register(yankreg_T *reg)
   FUNC_ATTR_NONNULL_ALL
 {
   XFREE_CLEAR(reg->additional_data);
-  if (reg->y_array == NULL) {
-    return;
+  if (reg->y_array != NULL) {
+    for (size_t i = reg->y_size; i-- > 0;) {  // from y_size - 1 to 0 included
+      API_CLEAR_STRING(reg->y_array[i]);
+    }
+    XFREE_CLEAR(reg->y_array);
   }
-
-  for (size_t i = reg->y_size; i-- > 0;) {  // from y_size - 1 to 0 included
-    API_CLEAR_STRING(reg->y_array[i]);
-  }
-  XFREE_CLEAR(reg->y_array);
+  *reg = (yankreg_T){ 0 };
 }
 
 /// Copy a block range into a register.
diff --git a/test/functional/editor/mcursor_spec.lua b/test/functional/editor/mcursor_spec.lua
index a97117fd2a..458a4af632 100644
--- a/test/functional/editor/mcursor_spec.lua
+++ b/test/functional/editor/mcursor_spec.lua
@@ -2628,6 +2628,32 @@ describe('multicursor', function()
   end)
 
   describe('clipboard', function()
+    it("does not crash after jumping to an empty line with 'clipboard'", function()
+      n.exec_lua([[
+        _G.content = {}
+        vim.g.clipboard = {
+          name = 'test',
+          copy = {
+            ['+'] = function(lines)
+              _G.content = lines
+            end,
+          },
+          paste = {
+            ['+'] = function()
+              return _G.content
+            end,
+          },
+        }
+        vim.o.clipboard = 'unnamedplus'
+      ]])
+      cursors({ '', 'aa' }, 'Qj') -- Cursor on the empty line, primary on the non-empty line.
+      feed(']C') -- Make the empty-line cursor primary.
+      feed('C')
+      n.assert_alive()
+      feed('<Esc>')
+      eq({ '', '' }, get_lines())
+    end)
+
     it("perf: provider syncs once per cascade with 'clipboard'", function()
       n.exec_lua([[
         _G.copies = 0