diff --git a/homeassistant/components/recorder/__init__.py b/homeassistant/components/recorder/__init__.py
index 02a07bab628..5ecfad5d204 100644
--- a/homeassistant/components/recorder/__init__.py
+++ b/homeassistant/components/recorder/__init__.py
@@ -381,9 +381,10 @@ class Recorder(threading.Thread):
                     continue
 
             try:
-                dbevent = Events.from_event(event)
                 if event.event_type == EVENT_STATE_CHANGED:
-                    dbevent.event_data = "{}"
+                    dbevent = Events.from_event(event, event_data="{}")
+                else:
+                    dbevent = Events.from_event(event)
                 self.event_session.add(dbevent)
             except (TypeError, ValueError):
                 _LOGGER.warning("Event is not JSON serializable: %s", event)
diff --git a/homeassistant/components/recorder/models.py b/homeassistant/components/recorder/models.py
index 642407cf0c6..e0f733fbfa0 100644
--- a/homeassistant/components/recorder/models.py
+++ b/homeassistant/components/recorder/models.py
@@ -60,11 +60,11 @@ class Events(Base):  # type: ignore
     )
 
     @staticmethod
-    def from_event(event):
+    def from_event(event, event_data=None):
         """Create an event database object from a native event."""
         return Events(
             event_type=event.event_type,
-            event_data=json.dumps(event.data, cls=JSONEncoder),
+            event_data=event_data or json.dumps(event.data, cls=JSONEncoder),
             origin=str(event.origin),
             time_fired=event.time_fired,
             context_id=event.context.id,
diff --git a/tests/components/recorder/test_models.py b/tests/components/recorder/test_models.py
index bf659282e3e..c11fa8a692f 100644
--- a/tests/components/recorder/test_models.py
+++ b/tests/components/recorder/test_models.py
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ from homeassistant.const import EVENT_STATE_CHANGED
 import homeassistant.core as ha
 from homeassistant.exceptions import InvalidEntityFormatError
 from homeassistant.util import dt
+import homeassistant.util.dt as dt_util
 
 ENGINE = None
 SESSION = None
@@ -241,3 +242,16 @@ async def test_process_timestamp_to_utc_isoformat():
         == "2016-07-09T21:31:00+00:00"
     )
     assert process_timestamp_to_utc_isoformat(None) is None
+
+
+async def test_event_to_db_model():
+    """Test we can round trip Event conversion."""
+    event = ha.Event(
+        "state_changed", {"some": "attr"}, ha.EventOrigin.local, dt_util.utcnow()
+    )
+    native = Events.from_event(event).to_native()
+    assert native == event
+
+    native = Events.from_event(event, event_data="{}").to_native()
+    event.data = {}
+    assert native == event