diff --git a/src/index.ts b/src/index.ts
index 0fb3ae8..ffda6b2 100644
--- a/src/index.ts
+++ b/src/index.ts
@@ -36,7 +36,15 @@ export class RequestError extends Error {
     }
 
     this.name = "HttpError";
-    this.status = statusCode;
+
+    // Implicit coercion to number if statusCode is a string
+    this.status = Number.parseInt(statusCode as unknown as string);
+
+    // If status is not equal to itself, then it is NaN
+    // we set then the status to 0
+    if (Number.isNaN(this.status)) {
+      this.status = 0;
+    }
 
     if ("response" in options) {
       this.response = options.response;
diff --git a/test/request-error.test.ts b/test/request-error.test.ts
index fef4b2c..4ab09ca 100644
--- a/test/request-error.test.ts
+++ b/test/request-error.test.ts
@@ -34,6 +34,13 @@ describe("RequestError", () => {
   test("sets .status", () => {
     expect(new RequestError("test", 123, mockOptions).status).toEqual(123);
     expect(new RequestError("test", 404, mockOptions).status).toEqual(404);
+    // @ts-expect-error
+    expect(new RequestError("test", "404", mockOptions).status).toEqual(404);
+    expect(new RequestError("test", NaN, mockOptions).status).toEqual(0);
+    // @ts-expect-error
+    expect(new RequestError("test", [], mockOptions).status).toEqual(0);
+    // @ts-expect-error
+    expect(new RequestError("test", new Date(), mockOptions).status).toEqual(0);
   });
 
   test("sets .request", () => {