diff --git a/activesupport/CHANGELOG.md b/activesupport/CHANGELOG.md
index 3117fa49a0f72d6e81d101665c834f194b62b6ed..cee1e57c93100f9ac5e33d68d6e71a7c38e99d15 100644
--- a/activesupport/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/activesupport/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -510,4 +510,10 @@
 
     *Logan Leger*
 
+*   Adds `:exception_object` key to ActiveSupport::Notifications::Instrumenter payload when an exception is raised
+
+    Adds new key/value pair to payload when an exception is raised: e.g. `:exception_object => #<RuntimeError: FAIL>`
+
+    *Ryan T. Hosford*
+
 Please check [4-2-stable](https://github.com/rails/rails/blob/4-2-stable/activesupport/CHANGELOG.md) for previous changes.
diff --git a/activesupport/lib/active_support/notifications/instrumenter.rb b/activesupport/lib/active_support/notifications/instrumenter.rb
index 67f2ee1a7fcacc2c0a245b9f779ea8c69c4d2d41..91f94cb2d7ff9836c5d908f492a10129620dc460 100644
--- a/activesupport/lib/active_support/notifications/instrumenter.rb
+++ b/activesupport/lib/active_support/notifications/instrumenter.rb
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ def instrument(name, payload={})
           yield payload
         rescue Exception => e
           payload[:exception] = [e.class.name, e.message]
+          payload[:exception_object] = e
           raise e
         ensure
           finish_with_state listeners_state, name, payload
diff --git a/activesupport/test/notifications_test.rb b/activesupport/test/notifications_test.rb
index d9cc392ac92d486e28bb9e30a04c977fe358df8e..1cb17e619734e526bee93199e9661a23a7f95716 100644
--- a/activesupport/test/notifications_test.rb
+++ b/activesupport/test/notifications_test.rb
@@ -232,7 +232,7 @@ def test_instrument_publishes_when_exception_is_raised
 
       assert_equal 1, @events.size
       assert_equal Hash[:payload => "notifications",
-        :exception => ["RuntimeError", "FAIL"]], @events.last.payload
+        :exception => ["RuntimeError", "FAIL"], :exception_object => e], @events.last.payload
     end
 
     def test_event_is_pushed_even_without_block