diff --git a/reviewboard/reviews/fields.py b/reviewboard/reviews/fields.py
index 8a7681fae99ce5889655e06286f187cb3cc15e4c..77e741f6584fbb14897aedb1ba9c88ac84bb7586 100644
--- a/reviewboard/reviews/fields.py
+++ b/reviewboard/reviews/fields.py
@@ -420,9 +420,9 @@ class BaseTextAreaField(BaseEditableField):
         text = text or ''
 
         if self.enable_markdown and not self.is_text_markdown(text):
-            return markdown_escape(text)
-        else:
-            return text
+            text = markdown_escape(text)
+
+        return escape(text)
 
     def render_change_entry_html(self, info):
         old_value_html = ''