diff --git a/modules/@angular/forms/src/validators.ts b/modules/@angular/forms/src/validators.ts
index ba57904789232..c0eea11d5c86c 100644
--- a/modules/@angular/forms/src/validators.ts
+++ b/modules/@angular/forms/src/validators.ts
@@ -14,8 +14,9 @@ import {isPresent} from './facade/lang';
 import {AbstractControl} from './model';
 import {isPromise} from './private_import_core';
 
-function isEmptyInputValue(value: any) {
-  return value == null || typeof value === 'string' && value.length === 0;
+function isEmptyInputValue(value: any): boolean {
+  // we don't check for string here so it also works with arrays
+  return value == null || value.length === 0;
 }
 
 /**
diff --git a/modules/@angular/forms/test/validators_spec.ts b/modules/@angular/forms/test/validators_spec.ts
index af44cf3efc7ba..d3b290c5e3512 100644
--- a/modules/@angular/forms/test/validators_spec.ts
+++ b/modules/@angular/forms/test/validators_spec.ts
@@ -48,6 +48,12 @@ export function main() {
 
       it('should accept zero as valid',
          () => { expect(Validators.required(new FormControl(0))).toBeNull(); });
+
+      it('should error on an empty array',
+         () => expect(Validators.required(new FormControl([]))).toEqual({'required': true}));
+
+      it('should not error on a non-empty array',
+         () => expect(Validators.required(new FormControl([1, 2]))).toBeNull());
     });
 
     describe('requiredTrue', () => {