diff --git a/app/models/namespace.rb b/app/models/namespace.rb
index b3cefc01b99..3830379be3e 100644
--- a/app/models/namespace.rb
+++ b/app/models/namespace.rb
@@ -172,17 +172,7 @@ class Namespace < ActiveRecord::Base
   end
 
   def parents
-    @parents ||=
-      begin
-        parents = []
-
-        if parent
-          parents << parent
-          parents += parent.parents
-        end
-
-        parents
-      end
+    @parents ||= parent ? parent.parents + [parent] : []
   end
 
   private
diff --git a/spec/models/namespace_spec.rb b/spec/models/namespace_spec.rb
index 90e8f6b7227..1b10dd23c50 100644
--- a/spec/models/namespace_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/models/namespace_spec.rb
@@ -145,7 +145,13 @@ describe Namespace, models: true do
     let(:group) { create(:group) }
     let(:nested_group) { create(:group, parent: group) }
     let(:deep_nested_group) { create(:group, parent: nested_group) }
+    let(:very_deep_nested_group) { create(:group, parent: deep_nested_group) }
 
-    it { expect(deep_nested_group.parents).to eq([nested_group, group]) }
+    it 'returns the correct parents' do
+      expect(very_deep_nested_group.parents).to eq([group, nested_group, deep_nested_group])
+      expect(deep_nested_group.parents).to eq([group, nested_group])
+      expect(nested_group.parents).to eq([group])
+      expect(group.parents).to eq([])
+    end
   end
 end