diff --git a/pandas/io/excel/_base.py b/pandas/io/excel/_base.py
index 7cb1309ae8d41..81d3d46f78bdb 100644
--- a/pandas/io/excel/_base.py
+++ b/pandas/io/excel/_base.py
@@ -903,5 +903,9 @@ def __exit__(self, exc_type, exc_value, traceback):
         self.close()
 
     def __del__(self):
-        # Ensure we don't leak file descriptors
-        self.close()
+        # Ensure we don't leak file descriptors, but put in try/except in case
+        # attributes are already deleted
+        try:
+            self.close()
+        except AttributeError:
+            pass