diff --git a/bin/pyspark b/bin/pyspark
index 59cfdfa7c5d1a8a89b8081e3c2a1153aa104c714..f553b314c5991fce6da1c407a2d1f0ef9952902d 100755
--- a/bin/pyspark
+++ b/bin/pyspark
@@ -102,6 +102,8 @@ if [[ "$1" =~ \.py$ ]]; then
   gatherSparkSubmitOpts "$@"
   exec $FWDIR/bin/spark-submit "${SUBMISSION_OPTS[@]}" $primary "${APPLICATION_OPTS[@]}"
 else
+  # PySpark shell requires special handling downstream
+  export PYSPARK_SHELL=1
   # Only use ipython if no command line arguments were provided [SPARK-1134]
   if [[ "$IPYTHON" = "1" ]]; then
     exec ${PYSPARK_PYTHON:-ipython} $IPYTHON_OPTS
diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/deploy/SparkSubmitDriverBootstrapper.scala b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/deploy/SparkSubmitDriverBootstrapper.scala
index 7ca96ed57c2dbe5dc547783a07d653e48acd6817..38b5d8e1739d07af8c07dc6378b6529512a1289f 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/deploy/SparkSubmitDriverBootstrapper.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/deploy/SparkSubmitDriverBootstrapper.scala
@@ -132,25 +132,29 @@ private[spark] object SparkSubmitDriverBootstrapper {
     val builder = new ProcessBuilder(filteredCommand)
     val process = builder.start()
 
-    // Redirect stdin, stdout, and stderr to/from the child JVM
+    // Redirect stdout and stderr from the child JVM
     val stdoutThread = new RedirectThread(process.getInputStream, System.out, "redirect stdout")
     val stderrThread = new RedirectThread(process.getErrorStream, System.err, "redirect stderr")
     stdoutThread.start()
     stderrThread.start()
 
-    // In Windows, the subprocess reads directly from our stdin, so we should avoid spawning
-    // a thread that contends with the subprocess in reading from System.in.
-    if (Utils.isWindows) {
-      // For the PySpark shell, the termination of this process is handled in java_gateway.py
-      process.waitFor()
-    } else {
-      // Terminate on broken pipe, which signals that the parent process has exited. This is
-      // important for the PySpark shell, where Spark submit itself is a python subprocess.
+    // Redirect stdin to child JVM only if we're not running Windows. This is because the
+    // subprocess there already reads directly from our stdin, so we should avoid spawning a
+    // thread that contends with the subprocess in reading from System.in.
+    val isWindows = Utils.isWindows
+    val isPySparkShell = sys.env.contains("PYSPARK_SHELL")
+    if (!isWindows) {
       val stdinThread = new RedirectThread(System.in, process.getOutputStream, "redirect stdin")
       stdinThread.start()
-      stdinThread.join()
-      process.destroy()
+      // For the PySpark shell, Spark submit itself runs as a python subprocess, and so this JVM
+      // should terminate on broken pipe, which signals that the parent process has exited. In
+      // Windows, the termination logic for the PySpark shell is handled in java_gateway.py
+      if (isPySparkShell) {
+        stdinThread.join()
+        process.destroy()
+      }
     }
+    process.waitFor()
   }
 
 }