diff --git a/Lib/pdb.py b/Lib/pdb.py
index f5d33c27fc1d91..1008b1c181a63e 100755
--- a/Lib/pdb.py
+++ b/Lib/pdb.py
@@ -162,18 +162,18 @@ def __init__(self, completekey='tab', stdin=None, stdout=None, skip=None,
         # Read $HOME/.pdbrc and ./.pdbrc
         self.rcLines = []
         if readrc:
+            readrcFiles = []
             if 'HOME' in os.environ:
                 envHome = os.environ['HOME']
+                readrcFiles.append(os.path.join(envHome, ".pdbrc"))
+            if not readrcFiles or envHome != os.getcwd():
+                readrcFiles.append(".pdbrc")
+            for rcPath in readrcFiles:
                 try:
-                    with open(os.path.join(envHome, ".pdbrc")) as rcFile:
+                    with open(rcPath) as rcFile:
                         self.rcLines.extend(rcFile)
                 except OSError:
                     pass
-            try:
-                with open(".pdbrc") as rcFile:
-                    self.rcLines.extend(rcFile)
-            except OSError:
-                pass
 
         self.commands = {} # associates a command list to breakpoint numbers
         self.commands_doprompt = {} # for each bp num, tells if the prompt
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_pdb.py b/Lib/test/test_pdb.py
index 56d823249544ae..bc10ff3b91918f 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_pdb.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_pdb.py
@@ -1337,6 +1337,33 @@ def test_readrc_kwarg(self):
             if save_home is not None:
                 os.environ['HOME'] = save_home
 
+    def test_readrc_home_twice(self):
+        script = textwrap.dedent("""
+            import pdb; pdb.Pdb(readrc=True).set_trace()
+
+            print('hello')
+        """)
+
+        with support.temp_cwd() as cur_dir:
+            with patch.dict(os.environ, {'HOME': cur_dir}):
+                with open('.pdbrc', 'w') as f:
+                    f.write("invalid\n")
+
+                with open('main.py', 'w') as f:
+                    f.write(script)
+
+                cmd = [sys.executable, 'main.py']
+                proc = subprocess.Popen(
+                    cmd,
+                    stdout=subprocess.PIPE,
+                    stdin=subprocess.PIPE,
+                    stderr=subprocess.PIPE,
+                )
+                with proc:
+                    stdout, stderr = proc.communicate(b'q\n')
+                    output = stdout.decode()
+                    self.assertEqual(output.count('NameError'), 1)
+
     def test_header(self):
         stdout = StringIO()
         header = 'Nobody expects... blah, blah, blah'
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2019-04-15-04-09-04.bpo-36563.4x71uX.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2019-04-15-04-09-04.bpo-36563.4x71uX.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..eebc6f42dfcb4e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2019-04-15-04-09-04.bpo-36563.4x71uX.rst
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+.pdbrc is not read twice anymore when the current directory is $HOME.