diff --git a/Documentation/git-interpret-trailers.txt b/Documentation/git-interpret-trailers.txt
index 152479ebba..ee13124681 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-interpret-trailers.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-interpret-trailers.txt
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ The group must be preceded by one or more empty (or whitespace-only) lines.
 The group must either be at the end of the message or be the last
 non-whitespace lines before a line that starts with '---' (followed by a
 space or the end of the line). Such three minus signs start the patch
-part of the message.
+part of the message. See also `--no-divider` below.
 
 When reading trailers, there can be whitespaces after the
 token, the separator and the value. There can also be whitespaces
@@ -123,6 +123,11 @@ OPTIONS
 	A convenience alias for `--only-trailers --only-input
 	--unfold`.
 
+--no-divider::
+	Do not treat `---` as the end of the commit message. Use this
+	when you know your input contains just the commit message itself
+	(and not an email or the output of `git format-patch`).
+
 CONFIGURATION VARIABLES
 -----------------------
 
diff --git a/builtin/interpret-trailers.c b/builtin/interpret-trailers.c
index b742539d4d..4b87e0dd2e 100644
--- a/builtin/interpret-trailers.c
+++ b/builtin/interpret-trailers.c
@@ -104,6 +104,7 @@ int cmd_interpret_trailers(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 		OPT_BOOL(0, "unfold", &opts.unfold, N_("join whitespace-continued values")),
 		{ OPTION_CALLBACK, 0, "parse", &opts, NULL, N_("set parsing options"),
 			PARSE_OPT_NOARG | PARSE_OPT_NONEG, parse_opt_parse },
+		OPT_BOOL(0, "no-divider", &opts.no_divider, N_("do not treat --- specially")),
 		OPT_CALLBACK(0, "trailer", &trailers, N_("trailer"),
 				N_("trailer(s) to add"), option_parse_trailer),
 		OPT_END()
diff --git a/t/t7513-interpret-trailers.sh b/t/t7513-interpret-trailers.sh
index e13b40b43f..c441861331 100755
--- a/t/t7513-interpret-trailers.sh
+++ b/t/t7513-interpret-trailers.sh
@@ -1439,4 +1439,24 @@ test_expect_success 'handling of --- lines in input' '
 	test_cmp expected actual
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'suppress --- handling' '
+	echo "real-trailer: just right" >expected &&
+
+	git interpret-trailers --parse --no-divider >actual <<-\EOF &&
+	subject
+
+	This commit message has a "---" in it, but because we tell
+	interpret-trailers not to respect that, it has no effect.
+
+	not-a-trailer: too soon
+	---
+
+	This is still the commit message body.
+
+	real-trailer: just right
+	EOF
+
+	test_cmp expected actual
+'
+
 test_done
diff --git a/trailer.c b/trailer.c
index 8392c6c030..0796f326b3 100644
--- a/trailer.c
+++ b/trailer.c
@@ -1080,7 +1080,11 @@ void trailer_info_get(struct trailer_info *info, const char *str,
 
 	ensure_configured();
 
-	patch_start = find_patch_start(str);
+	if (opts->no_divider)
+		patch_start = strlen(str);
+	else
+		patch_start = find_patch_start(str);
+
 	trailer_end = find_trailer_end(str, patch_start);
 	trailer_start = find_trailer_start(str, trailer_end);
 
diff --git a/trailer.h b/trailer.h
index 82a62b33bb..f47b16e2c4 100644
--- a/trailer.h
+++ b/trailer.h
@@ -69,6 +69,7 @@ struct process_trailer_options {
 	int only_trailers;
 	int only_input;
 	int unfold;
+	int no_divider;
 };
 
 #define PROCESS_TRAILER_OPTIONS_INIT {0}