diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/component-base/metrics/processstarttime.go b/staging/src/k8s.io/component-base/metrics/processstarttime.go
index 0fbbe2b47bc..8dde458814f 100644
--- a/staging/src/k8s.io/component-base/metrics/processstarttime.go
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/component-base/metrics/processstarttime.go
@@ -43,6 +43,12 @@ func RegisterProcessStartTime(registrationFunc func(Registerable) error) error {
 		klog.Errorf("Could not get process start time, %v", err)
 		start = float64(time.Now().Unix())
 	}
+	// processStartTime is a lazy metric which only get initialized after registered.
+	// so we have to explicitly create it before setting the label value. Otherwise
+	// it is a noop.
+	if !processStartTime.IsCreated() {
+		processStartTime.initializeMetric()
+	}
 	processStartTime.WithLabelValues().Set(start)
 	return registrationFunc(processStartTime)
 }