diff --git a/actionpack/lib/action_view/helpers/form_tag_helper.rb b/actionpack/lib/action_view/helpers/form_tag_helper.rb
index 2a3f826c15..796268628a 100644
--- a/actionpack/lib/action_view/helpers/form_tag_helper.rb
+++ b/actionpack/lib/action_view/helpers/form_tag_helper.rb
@@ -293,7 +293,7 @@ module ActionView
         escape = options.key?("escape") ? options.delete("escape") : true
         content = html_escape(content) if escape
 
-        content_tag :textarea, content.html_safe, { "name" => name, "id" => sanitize_to_id(name) }.update(options)
+        content_tag :textarea, content.to_s.html_safe, { "name" => name, "id" => sanitize_to_id(name) }.update(options)
       end
 
       # Creates a check box form input tag.
diff --git a/actionpack/test/template/form_tag_helper_test.rb b/actionpack/test/template/form_tag_helper_test.rb
index 1c095b621e..b75863bb6a 100644
--- a/actionpack/test/template/form_tag_helper_test.rb
+++ b/actionpack/test/template/form_tag_helper_test.rb
@@ -206,6 +206,12 @@ class FormTagHelperTest < ActionView::TestCase
     assert_dom_equal expected, actual
   end
 
+  def test_text_area_tag_unescaped_nil_content
+    actual = text_area_tag "body", nil, :escape => false
+    expected = %(<textarea id="body" name="body"></textarea>)
+    assert_dom_equal expected, actual
+  end
+
   def test_text_field_tag
     actual = text_field_tag "title", "Hello!"
     expected = %(<input id="title" name="title" type="text" value="Hello!" />)