diff --git a/src/core/lib/gprpp/thd_posix.cc b/src/core/lib/gprpp/thd_posix.cc
index 533c07e7d88..2751b221a8f 100644
--- a/src/core/lib/gprpp/thd_posix.cc
+++ b/src/core/lib/gprpp/thd_posix.cc
@@ -105,7 +105,7 @@ class ThreadInternalsPosix
 
     GPR_ASSERT(pthread_attr_destroy(&attr) == 0);
 
-    if (!success) {
+    if (!(*success)) {
       /* don't use gpr_free, as this was allocated using malloc (see above) */
       free(info);
       grpc_core::Fork::DecThreadCount();