diff --git a/controllers/gce/controller/utils.go b/controllers/gce/controller/utils.go
index b7d78e088..8360fa36a 100644
--- a/controllers/gce/controller/utils.go
+++ b/controllers/gce/controller/utils.go
@@ -384,7 +384,7 @@ func (t *GCETranslator) getHTTPProbe(l map[string]string, targetPort intstr.IntO
 	for _, pod := range pl {
 		logStr := fmt.Sprintf("Pod %v matching service selectors %v (targetport %+v)", pod.Name, l, targetPort)
 		for _, c := range pod.Spec.Containers {
-			if c.ReadinessProbe == nil || c.ReadinessProbe.Handler.HTTPGet == nil {
+			if !isSimpleHTTPProbe(c.ReadinessProbe) {
 				continue
 			}
 			for _, p := range c.Ports {
@@ -403,6 +403,15 @@ func (t *GCETranslator) getHTTPProbe(l map[string]string, targetPort intstr.IntO
 	return nil, nil
 }
 
+// isSimpleHTTPProbe returns true if the given Probe is:
+// - an HTTPGet probe, as opposed to a tcp or exec probe
+// - has a scheme of HTTP, as opposed to HTTPS
+// - has no special host or headers fields
+func isSimpleHTTPProbe(probe *api.Probe) bool {
+	return (probe != nil && probe.Handler.HTTPGet != nil && probe.Handler.HTTPGet.Host == "" &&
+		probe.Handler.HTTPGet.Scheme == api.URISchemeHTTP && len(probe.Handler.HTTPGet.HTTPHeaders) == 0)
+}
+
 // HealthCheck returns the http readiness probe for the endpoint backing the
 // given nodePort. If no probe is found it returns a health check with "" as
 // the request path, callers are responsible for swapping this out for the