diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index d1d5e6e46..9f4ffa62a 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -15,7 +15,8 @@ None
 
 ### Fixed
 
-None
+- [#682](https://github.com/airblade/paper_trail/issues/682) -
+  Explicitly make PaperTrail::Version item relationship optional (to allow after_destroy versioning)
 
 ## 4.1.0 (Unreleased)
 
diff --git a/lib/paper_trail/version_concern.rb b/lib/paper_trail/version_concern.rb
index ef10c3907..b92d8b553 100644
--- a/lib/paper_trail/version_concern.rb
+++ b/lib/paper_trail/version_concern.rb
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ module VersionConcern
     extend ::ActiveSupport::Concern
 
     included do
-      belongs_to :item, :polymorphic => true
+      belongs_to :item, :polymorphic => true, :required => false
 
       # Since the test suite has test coverage for this, we want to declare
       # the association when the test suite is running. This makes it pass when