diff --git a/pkg/release/v1/util/manifest.go b/pkg/release/v1/util/manifest.go
index a9d8b22d4..992a4af04 100644
--- a/pkg/release/v1/util/manifest.go
+++ b/pkg/release/v1/util/manifest.go
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ func SplitManifests(bigFile string) map[string]string {
 	docs := sep.Split(bigFileTmp, -1)
 	var count int
 	for _, d := range docs {
-		if d == "" {
+		if strings.TrimSpace(d) == "" {
 			continue
 		}
 
diff --git a/pkg/release/v1/util/manifest_test.go b/pkg/release/v1/util/manifest_test.go
index e6172f01e..579c7f891 100644
--- a/pkg/release/v1/util/manifest_test.go
+++ b/pkg/release/v1/util/manifest_test.go
@@ -69,6 +69,13 @@ spec:
 			input:    "  \n\n  \n",
 			expected: map[string]string{},
 		},
+		{
+			name:  "whitespace-only doc after separator is skipped",
+			input: "---\napiVersion: v1\nkind: ConfigMap\nmetadata:\n  name: cm1\n---\n  \n",
+			expected: map[string]string{
+				"manifest-0": "apiVersion: v1\nkind: ConfigMap\nmetadata:\n  name: cm1",
+			},
+		},
 		{
 			name: "single doc no separator",
 			input: `