diff --git a/src/Valitron/Validator.php b/src/Valitron/Validator.php
index f6bd446..e08be03 100644
--- a/src/Valitron/Validator.php
+++ b/src/Valitron/Validator.php
@@ -892,6 +892,11 @@ class Validator
         if (is_array($identifiers) && count($identifiers) === 0) {
             return array($data, false);
         }
+        
+        // Catches the case where the data isn't an array or object
+        if (is_scalar($data)) {
+            return array(NULL, false);
+        }
 
         $identifier = array_shift($identifiers);
 
diff --git a/tests/Valitron/ValidateTest.php b/tests/Valitron/ValidateTest.php
index 0bd0754..dbb048b 100644
--- a/tests/Valitron/ValidateTest.php
+++ b/tests/Valitron/ValidateTest.php
@@ -34,6 +34,13 @@ class ValidateTest extends BaseTestCase
         $v->rule('required', array('name', 'email'));
         $this->assertFalse($v->validate());
     }
+   
+    public function testRequiredSubfieldsArrayStringValue()
+    {
+        $v = new Validator(array('name' => 'bob'));
+        $v->rule('required', array('name.*.red'));
+        $this->assertFalse($v->validate());
+    }
 
     public function testRequiredValid()
     {