diff --git a/Documentation/platform/operator.md b/Documentation/platform/operator.md
index 8bad06ebc..e503fff78 100644
--- a/Documentation/platform/operator.md
+++ b/Documentation/platform/operator.md
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ Usage of ./operator:
   -disable-unmanaged-prometheus-configuration
     	Disable support for unmanaged Prometheus configuration when all resource selectors are nil. As stated in the API documentation, unmanaged Prometheus configuration is a deprecated feature which can be avoided with '.spec.additionalScrapeConfigs' or the ScrapeConfig CRD. Default: false.
   -enable-config-reloader-probes
-    	Enable liveness and readiness for the config-reloader container. Default: false
+    	Enable liveness, readiness, and startup probes for the config-reloader container. Default: false
   -feature-gates value
     	Feature gates are a set of key=value pairs that describe Prometheus-Operator features.
     	Available feature gates:
diff --git a/cmd/operator/main.go b/cmd/operator/main.go
index 4547f4bcb..2eb970312 100644
--- a/cmd/operator/main.go
+++ b/cmd/operator/main.go
@@ -155,7 +155,7 @@ func parseFlags(fs *flag.FlagSet) {
 	fs.Var(&cfg.ReloaderConfig.CPULimits, "config-reloader-cpu-limit", "Config Reloader CPU limits. Value \"0\" disables it and causes no limit to be configured.")
 	fs.Var(&cfg.ReloaderConfig.MemoryRequests, "config-reloader-memory-request", "Config Reloader memory requests. Value \"0\" disables it and causes no request to be configured.")
 	fs.Var(&cfg.ReloaderConfig.MemoryLimits, "config-reloader-memory-limit", "Config Reloader memory limits. Value \"0\" disables it and causes no limit to be configured.")
-	fs.BoolVar(&cfg.ReloaderConfig.EnableProbes, "enable-config-reloader-probes", false, "Enable liveness and readiness for the config-reloader container. Default: false")
+	fs.BoolVar(&cfg.ReloaderConfig.EnableProbes, "enable-config-reloader-probes", false, "Enable liveness, readiness, and startup probes for the config-reloader container. Default: false")
 
 	fs.StringVar(&cfg.AlertmanagerDefaultBaseImage, "alertmanager-default-base-image", operator.DefaultAlertmanagerBaseImage, "Alertmanager default base image (path without tag/version)")
 	fs.StringVar(&cfg.PrometheusDefaultBaseImage, "prometheus-default-base-image", operator.DefaultPrometheusBaseImage, "Prometheus default base image (path without tag/version)")
diff --git a/pkg/operator/config_reloader.go b/pkg/operator/config_reloader.go
index 43711f856..312660577 100644
--- a/pkg/operator/config_reloader.go
+++ b/pkg/operator/config_reloader.go
@@ -337,6 +337,7 @@ func (cr *ConfigReloader) addProbes(c v1.Container) v1.Container {
 
 	c.LivenessProbe = &v1.Probe{ProbeHandler: handler}
 	c.ReadinessProbe = &v1.Probe{ProbeHandler: handler}
+	c.StartupProbe = &v1.Probe{ProbeHandler: handler}
 
 	return c
 }
diff --git a/pkg/operator/config_reloader_test.go b/pkg/operator/config_reloader_test.go
index 817c7ebb0..1c24fe687 100644
--- a/pkg/operator/config_reloader_test.go
+++ b/pkg/operator/config_reloader_test.go
@@ -60,6 +60,10 @@ func TestCreateConfigReloaderEnableProbes(t *testing.T) {
 	if container.ReadinessProbe == nil {
 		t.Errorf("expected ReadinessProbe but got none")
 	}
+
+	if container.StartupProbe == nil {
+		t.Errorf("expected StartupProbe but got none")
+	}
 }
 
 func TestCreateInitConfigReloaderEnableProbes(t *testing.T) {
@@ -88,6 +92,10 @@ func TestCreateInitConfigReloaderEnableProbes(t *testing.T) {
 	if container.ReadinessProbe != nil {
 		t.Errorf("expected no ReadinessProbe but got %v", container.ReadinessProbe)
 	}
+
+	if container.StartupProbe != nil {
+		t.Errorf("expected no StartupProbe but got %v", container.StartupProbe)
+	}
 }
 
 func TestCreateInitConfigReloader(t *testing.T) {
@@ -134,6 +142,10 @@ func TestCreateInitConfigReloader(t *testing.T) {
 	if container.ReadinessProbe != nil {
 		t.Errorf("expected no ReadinessProbe but got %v", container.ReadinessProbe)
 	}
+
+	if container.StartupProbe != nil {
+		t.Errorf("expected no StartupProbe but got %v", container.StartupProbe)
+	}
 }
 
 func TestCreateConfigReloader(t *testing.T) {
@@ -217,6 +229,10 @@ func TestCreateConfigReloader(t *testing.T) {
 	if container.ReadinessProbe != nil {
 		t.Errorf("expected no ReadinessProbe but got %v", container.ReadinessProbe)
 	}
+
+	if container.StartupProbe != nil {
+		t.Errorf("expected no StartupProbe but got %v", container.StartupProbe)
+	}
 }
 
 func TestCreateConfigReloaderForDaemonSet(t *testing.T) {