diff --git a/lisp/org-bbdb.el b/lisp/org-bbdb.el
index 3df4c2044..d80c52b0a 100644
--- a/lisp/org-bbdb.el
+++ b/lisp/org-bbdb.el
@@ -125,7 +125,8 @@
 (defvar name)   ;; dynamically scoped from Org
 
 ;; Support for version 2.35
-(defvar org-bbdb-old (fboundp 'bbdb-record-get-field-internal))
+(eval-after-load 'bbdb
+  '(defvar org-bbdb-old (fboundp 'bbdb-record-get-field-internal)))
 
 ;; Customization