diff --git a/cmd/helm/upgrade.go b/cmd/helm/upgrade.go
index 3db7f561c..4f8ef7028 100644
--- a/cmd/helm/upgrade.go
+++ b/cmd/helm/upgrade.go
@@ -146,6 +146,7 @@ func newUpgradeCmd(cfg *action.Configuration, out io.Writer) *cobra.Command {
 	f.BoolVar(&client.Devel, "devel", false, "use development versions, too. Equivalent to version '>0.0.0-0'. If --version is set, this is ignored.")
 	f.BoolVar(&client.DryRun, "dry-run", false, "simulate an upgrade")
 	f.BoolVar(&client.Recreate, "recreate-pods", false, "performs pods restart for the resource if applicable")
+	f.MarkDeprecated("recreate-pods", "functionality will no longer be updated. Consult the documentation for other methods to recreate pods")
 	f.BoolVar(&client.Force, "force", false, "force resource update through delete/recreate if needed")
 	f.BoolVar(&client.DisableHooks, "no-hooks", false, "disable pre/post upgrade hooks")
 	f.DurationVar(&client.Timeout, "timeout", 300*time.Second, "time to wait for any individual Kubernetes operation (like Jobs for hooks)")