diff --git a/lib/Doctrine/ORM/Proxy/ProxyFactory.php b/lib/Doctrine/ORM/Proxy/ProxyFactory.php
index fe19c7d71e1..2ba41caba72 100644
--- a/lib/Doctrine/ORM/Proxy/ProxyFactory.php
+++ b/lib/Doctrine/ORM/Proxy/ProxyFactory.php
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@
 use ReflectionProperty;
 use Symfony\Component\VarExporter\ProxyHelper;
 use Symfony\Component\VarExporter\VarExporter;
+use Throwable;
 
 use function array_flip;
 use function str_replace;
@@ -204,7 +205,17 @@ private function createInitializer(ClassMetadata $classMetadata, EntityPersister
 
             $identifier = $classMetadata->getIdentifierValues($proxy);
 
-            if ($entityPersister->loadById($identifier, $proxy) === null) {
+            try {
+                $entity = $entityPersister->loadById($identifier, $proxy);
+            } catch (Throwable $exception) {
+                $proxy->__setInitializer($initializer);
+                $proxy->__setCloner($cloner);
+                $proxy->__setInitialized(false);
+
+                throw $exception;
+            }
+
+            if ($entity === null) {
                 $proxy->__setInitializer($initializer);
                 $proxy->__setCloner($cloner);
                 $proxy->__setInitialized(false);
diff --git a/tests/Doctrine/Tests/ORM/Proxy/ProxyFactoryTest.php b/tests/Doctrine/Tests/ORM/Proxy/ProxyFactoryTest.php
index 8342058a701..1801f36806c 100644
--- a/tests/Doctrine/Tests/ORM/Proxy/ProxyFactoryTest.php
+++ b/tests/Doctrine/Tests/ORM/Proxy/ProxyFactoryTest.php
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
 use Doctrine\Common\EventManager;
 use Doctrine\Common\Proxy\Proxy as CommonProxy;
 use Doctrine\DBAL\Connection;
+use Doctrine\DBAL\Exception\ConnectionException;
 use Doctrine\DBAL\Platforms\AbstractPlatform;
 use Doctrine\ORM\EntityNotFoundException;
 use Doctrine\ORM\Mapping\ClassMetadata;
@@ -145,6 +146,38 @@ public function testFailedProxyLoadingDoesNotMarkTheProxyAsInitialized(): void
         self::assertFalse($proxy->__isInitialized());
     }
 
+    public function testExceptionOnProxyLoadingDoesNotMarkTheProxyAsInitialized(): void
+    {
+        $persister = $this
+            ->getMockBuilderWithOnlyMethods(BasicEntityPersister::class, ['load', 'getClassMetadata'])
+            ->disableOriginalConstructor()
+            ->getMock();
+        $this->uowMock->setEntityPersister(ECommerceFeature::class, $persister);
+
+        $proxy = $this->proxyFactory->getProxy(ECommerceFeature::class, ['id' => 42]);
+        assert($proxy instanceof Proxy);
+
+        $exception = $this
+            ->getMockBuilder(ConnectionException::class)
+            ->disableOriginalConstructor()
+            ->getMock();
+
+        $persister
+            ->expects(self::atLeastOnce())
+            ->method('load')
+            ->will(self::throwException($exception));
+
+        try {
+            $proxy->getDescription();
+            self::fail('An exception was expected to be raised');
+        } catch (ConnectionException $exception) {
+        }
+
+        self::assertFalse($proxy->__isInitialized(), 'The proxy should not be initialized');
+        self::assertInstanceOf(Closure::class, $proxy->__getInitializer(), 'The initializer wasn\'t removed');
+        self::assertInstanceOf(Closure::class, $proxy->__getCloner(), 'The cloner wasn\'t removed');
+    }
+
     /** @group DDC-2432 */
     public function testFailedProxyCloningDoesNotMarkTheProxyAsInitialized(): void
     {