diff --git a/pkg/kstatus/status/example_test.go b/pkg/kstatus/status/example_test.go
index 773782c3..fa18bbbc 100644
--- a/pkg/kstatus/status/example_test.go
+++ b/pkg/kstatus/status/example_test.go
@@ -95,3 +95,59 @@ status:
 
 	assert.Equal(t, expectedManifest, receivedManifest)
 }
+
+func TestExampleStringObservedGeneration(t *testing.T) {
+	deploymentManifest := `
+apiVersion: apps/v1
+kind: Deployment
+metadata:
+   name: test
+   generation: 1
+   namespace: qual
+status:
+   observedGeneration: "1"
+   updatedReplicas: 1
+   readyReplicas: 1
+   availableReplicas: 1
+   replicas: 1
+   conditions:
+    - type: Progressing
+      status: "True"
+      reason: NewReplicaSetAvailable
+    - type: Available
+      status: "True"
+`
+	deployment := testutil.YamlToUnstructured(t, deploymentManifest)
+
+	res, err := status.Compute(deployment)
+	assert.NoError(t, err)
+
+	assert.Equal(t, status.Status("Current"), res.Status)
+}
+
+func TestExampleStringObservedGenerationBad(t *testing.T) {
+	deploymentManifest := `
+apiVersion: apps/v1
+kind: Deployment
+metadata:
+   name: test
+   generation: 1
+   namespace: qual
+status:
+   observedGeneration: "foo"
+   updatedReplicas: 1
+   readyReplicas: 1
+   availableReplicas: 1
+   replicas: 1
+   conditions:
+    - type: Progressing
+      status: "True"
+      reason: NewReplicaSetAvailable
+    - type: Available
+      status: "True"
+`
+	deployment := testutil.YamlToUnstructured(t, deploymentManifest)
+
+	_, err := status.Compute(deployment)
+	assert.Error(t, err)
+}
diff --git a/pkg/kstatus/status/generic.go b/pkg/kstatus/status/generic.go
index 6213d1b9..dba0c00c 100644
--- a/pkg/kstatus/status/generic.go
+++ b/pkg/kstatus/status/generic.go
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ package status
 
 import (
 	"fmt"
+	"strconv"
 
 	corev1 "k8s.io/api/core/v1"
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/apis/meta/v1/unstructured"
@@ -81,7 +82,17 @@ func checkGeneration(u *unstructured.Unstructured) (*Result, error) {
 	}
 	observedGeneration, found, err := unstructured.NestedInt64(u.Object, "status", "observedGeneration")
 	if err != nil {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("looking up status.observedGeneration from resource: %w", err)
+		// Last ditch to see if observedGeneration is a string.  If so, convert to int64.
+		strObservedGeneration, found, err := unstructured.NestedString(u.Object, "status", "observedGeneration")
+		if err != nil {
+			return nil, fmt.Errorf("looking up status.observedGeneration from resource: %w", err)
+		}
+		if found {
+			observedGeneration, err = strconv.ParseInt(strObservedGeneration, 10, 64)
+			if err != nil {
+				return nil, fmt.Errorf("looking up status.observedGeneration from resource: %w", err)
+			}
+		}
 	}
 	if found {
 		// Resource does not have this field, so we can't do this check.