diff --git a/cJSON.c b/cJSON.c
index b16abae..7c0d9f3 100644
--- a/cJSON.c
+++ b/cJSON.c
@@ -468,7 +468,6 @@ static const unsigned char *parse_string(cJSON *item, const unsigned char *str,
     {
         goto fail;
     }
-    item->valuestring = (char*)out; /* assign here so out will be deleted during cJSON_Delete() later */
     item->type = cJSON_String;
 
     ptr = str + 1;
@@ -608,6 +607,8 @@ static const unsigned char *parse_string(cJSON *item, const unsigned char *str,
         ptr++;
     }
 
+    item->valuestring = (char*)out;
+
     return ptr;
 
 fail: