diff --git a/bson/json_util.py b/bson/json_util.py
index 0644874b44..ed67d9a36c 100644
--- a/bson/json_util.py
+++ b/bson/json_util.py
@@ -508,7 +508,7 @@ def object_hook(dct, json_options=DEFAULT_JSON_OPTIONS):
 def _parse_legacy_regex(doc):
     pattern = doc["$regex"]
     # Check if this is the $regex query operator.
-    if isinstance(pattern, Regex):
+    if not isinstance(pattern, (str, bytes)):
         return doc
     flags = 0
     # PyMongo always adds $options but some other tools may not.
diff --git a/test/test_json_util.py b/test/test_json_util.py
index f28b75c9be..dbf4f1c26a 100644
--- a/test/test_json_util.py
+++ b/test/test_json_util.py
@@ -270,6 +270,15 @@ def test_regex(self):
             json_util.dumps(Regex('.*', re.M | re.X),
                             json_options=LEGACY_JSON_OPTIONS))
 
+    def test_regex_validation(self):
+        non_str_types = [10, {}, []]
+        docs = [{"$regex": i} for i in non_str_types]
+        for doc in docs:
+            self.assertEqual(doc, json_util.loads(json.dumps(doc)))
+
+        doc = {"$regex": ""}
+        self.assertIsInstance(json_util.loads(json.dumps(doc)), Regex)
+
     def test_minkey(self):
         self.round_trip({"m": MinKey()})