diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index cb22c9b63fce1..c5e83ccc913f5 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -8,6 +8,8 @@ PHP                                                                        NEWS
     when running on Apple Silicon). (Manuel Kress)
   . Fixed bug GH-14387 (Crash when stack walking in destructor of yielded from
     values during Generator->throw()). (Bob)
+  . Fixed bug GH-14456 (Attempting to initialize class with private constructor
+    calls destructor). (Girgias)
 
 - BCMatch:
   . Fixed bug (bcpowmod() with mod = -1 returns 1 when it must be 0). (Girgias)
diff --git a/Zend/tests/gh14456.phpt b/Zend/tests/gh14456.phpt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..4f350c7fc3ad9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Zend/tests/gh14456.phpt
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+--TEST--
+GH-14456: Attempting to initialize class with private constructor calls destructor
+--FILE--
+<?php
+
+class PrivateUser {
+    private function __construct() {
+        return new stdClass();
+    }
+    public function __destruct() {
+        echo 'Destructor for ', __CLASS__, PHP_EOL;
+    }
+}
+
+try {
+    new PrivateUser();
+} catch (Throwable $e) {
+    echo $e::class, ': ', $e->getMessage(), PHP_EOL;
+}
+?>
+--EXPECT--
+Error: Call to private PrivateUser::__construct() from global scope
diff --git a/Zend/zend_object_handlers.c b/Zend/zend_object_handlers.c
index 6a22156d181d3..58301da038ce0 100644
--- a/Zend/zend_object_handlers.c
+++ b/Zend/zend_object_handlers.c
@@ -1622,6 +1622,7 @@ ZEND_API zend_function *zend_std_get_constructor(zend_object *zobj) /* {{{ */
 				if (UNEXPECTED(constructor->op_array.fn_flags & ZEND_ACC_PRIVATE)
 				 || UNEXPECTED(!zend_check_protected(zend_get_function_root_class(constructor), scope))) {
 					zend_bad_constructor_call(constructor, scope);
+					zend_object_store_ctor_failed(zobj);
 					constructor = NULL;
 				}
 			}