diff --git a/pkg/kubelet/metrics/metrics.go b/pkg/kubelet/metrics/metrics.go
index 1f6ee294846..0e60794b02c 100644
--- a/pkg/kubelet/metrics/metrics.go
+++ b/pkg/kubelet/metrics/metrics.go
@@ -44,6 +44,7 @@ const (
 	PLEGRelistDurationKey                = "pleg_relist_duration_seconds"
 	PLEGDiscardEventsKey                 = "pleg_discard_events"
 	PLEGRelistIntervalKey                = "pleg_relist_interval_seconds"
+	PLEGLastSeenKey                      = "pleg_last_seen_seconds"
 	EvictionsKey                         = "evictions"
 	EvictionStatsAgeKey                  = "eviction_stats_age_seconds"
 	PreemptionsKey                       = "preemptions"
@@ -186,6 +187,16 @@ var (
 			StabilityLevel: metrics.ALPHA,
 		},
 	)
+	// PLEGLastSeen is a Gauge giving the Unix timestamp when the Kubelet's
+	// Pod Lifecycle Event Generator (PLEG) was last seen active.
+	PLEGLastSeen = metrics.NewGauge(
+		&metrics.GaugeOpts{
+			Subsystem:      KubeletSubsystem,
+			Name:           PLEGLastSeenKey,
+			Help:           "Timestamp in seconds when PLEG was last seen active.",
+			StabilityLevel: metrics.ALPHA,
+		},
+	)
 	// RuntimeOperations is a Counter that tracks the cumulative number of remote runtime operations.
 	// Broken down by operation type.
 	RuntimeOperations = metrics.NewCounterVec(
@@ -522,6 +533,7 @@ func Register(containerCache kubecontainer.RuntimeCache, collectors ...metrics.S
 		legacyregistry.MustRegister(PLEGRelistDuration)
 		legacyregistry.MustRegister(PLEGDiscardEvents)
 		legacyregistry.MustRegister(PLEGRelistInterval)
+		legacyregistry.MustRegister(PLEGLastSeen)
 		legacyregistry.MustRegister(RuntimeOperations)
 		legacyregistry.MustRegister(RuntimeOperationsDuration)
 		legacyregistry.MustRegister(RuntimeOperationsErrors)
diff --git a/pkg/kubelet/pleg/generic.go b/pkg/kubelet/pleg/generic.go
index 1bd39c64ff7..4b3743e8917 100644
--- a/pkg/kubelet/pleg/generic.go
+++ b/pkg/kubelet/pleg/generic.go
@@ -138,6 +138,8 @@ func (g *GenericPLEG) Healthy() (bool, error) {
 	if relistTime.IsZero() {
 		return false, fmt.Errorf("pleg has yet to be successful")
 	}
+	// Expose as metric so you can alert on `time()-pleg_last_seen_seconds > nn`
+	metrics.PLEGLastSeen.Set(float64(relistTime.Unix()))
 	elapsed := g.clock.Since(relistTime)
 	if elapsed > relistThreshold {
 		return false, fmt.Errorf("pleg was last seen active %v ago; threshold is %v", elapsed, relistThreshold)