diff --git a/googlemock/test/gmock-matchers_test.cc b/googlemock/test/gmock-matchers_test.cc
index 1f14a056..c2f1d0ad 100644
--- a/googlemock/test/gmock-matchers_test.cc
+++ b/googlemock/test/gmock-matchers_test.cc
@@ -452,6 +452,20 @@ TEST(StringViewMatcherTest, CanBeImplicitlyConstructedFromStringView) {
 }
 #endif  // GTEST_HAS_ABSL
 
+// Tests that a std::reference_wrapper<std::string> object can be implicitly
+// converted to a Matcher<std::string> or Matcher<const std::string&> via Eq().
+TEST(StringMatcherTest,
+     CanBeImplicitlyConstructedFromEqReferenceWrapperString) {
+  std::string value = "cats";
+  Matcher<std::string> m1 = Eq(std::ref(value));
+  EXPECT_TRUE(m1.Matches("cats"));
+  EXPECT_FALSE(m1.Matches("dogs"));
+
+  Matcher<const std::string&> m2 = Eq(std::ref(value));
+  EXPECT_TRUE(m2.Matches("cats"));
+  EXPECT_FALSE(m2.Matches("dogs"));
+}
+
 // Tests that MakeMatcher() constructs a Matcher<T> from a
 // MatcherInterface* without requiring the user to explicitly
 // write the type.
diff --git a/googletest/include/gtest/gtest-matchers.h b/googletest/include/gtest/gtest-matchers.h
index 9a8841bb..846b9455 100644
--- a/googletest/include/gtest/gtest-matchers.h
+++ b/googletest/include/gtest/gtest-matchers.h
@@ -599,21 +599,26 @@ class ComparisonBase {
   }
 
  private:
-  template <typename Lhs>
+  template <typename T>
+  static const T& Unwrap(const T& v) { return v; }
+  template <typename T>
+  static const T& Unwrap(std::reference_wrapper<T> v) { return v; }
+
+  template <typename Lhs, typename = Rhs>
   class Impl : public MatcherInterface<Lhs> {
    public:
     explicit Impl(const Rhs& rhs) : rhs_(rhs) {}
     bool MatchAndExplain(Lhs lhs,
                          MatchResultListener* /* listener */) const override {
-      return Op()(lhs, rhs_);
+      return Op()(lhs, Unwrap(rhs_));
     }
     void DescribeTo(::std::ostream* os) const override {
       *os << D::Desc() << " ";
-      UniversalPrint(rhs_, os);
+      UniversalPrint(Unwrap(rhs_), os);
     }
     void DescribeNegationTo(::std::ostream* os) const override {
       *os << D::NegatedDesc() <<  " ";
-      UniversalPrint(rhs_, os);
+      UniversalPrint(Unwrap(rhs_), os);
     }
 
    private: