diff --git a/CHANGELOG b/CHANGELOG
index ed9ffefb67f6a95705b616c337452c659cbe0c1d..f8a748c9407d4010d52003b27cc42e15f13b1a52 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG
+++ b/CHANGELOG
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 Please view this file on the master branch, on stable branches it's out of date.
 
 v 7.12.0 (unreleased)
+  - Fix Zen Mode not closing with ESC key (Stan Hu)
   - Add web hook support for note events (Stan Hu)
   - Disable "New Issue" and "New Merge Request" buttons when features are disabled in project settings (Stan Hu)
   - Allow to configure location of the `.gitlab_shell_secret` file. (Jakub Jirutka)
diff --git a/app/assets/javascripts/zen_mode.js.coffee b/app/assets/javascripts/zen_mode.js.coffee
index 0fb8f7ed75fdd4c6d691d1901a173cfa00f41835..e2516b4ae76a0dfcba6cbaa5d9ff752c121cadfa 100644
--- a/app/assets/javascripts/zen_mode.js.coffee
+++ b/app/assets/javascripts/zen_mode.js.coffee
@@ -12,11 +12,11 @@ class @ZenMode
 
     $('body').on 'click', '.zen-enter-link', (e) =>
       e.preventDefault()
-      $(e.currentTarget).closest('.zennable').find('.zen-toggle-comment').prop('checked', true)
+      $(e.currentTarget).closest('.zennable').find('.zen-toggle-comment').prop('checked', true).change()
 
     $('body').on 'click', '.zen-leave-link', (e) =>
       e.preventDefault()
-      $(e.currentTarget).closest('.zennable').find('.zen-toggle-comment').prop('checked', false)
+      $(e.currentTarget).closest('.zennable').find('.zen-toggle-comment').prop('checked', false).change()
 
     $('body').on 'change', '.zen-toggle-comment', (e) =>
       checkbox = e.currentTarget