diff --git a/src/regex.cc b/src/regex.cc
index df5af661..b62bdddf 100644
--- a/src/regex.cc
+++ b/src/regex.cc
@@ -6,10 +6,10 @@ namespace Kakoune
 {
 
 Regex::Regex(StringView re, RegexCompileFlags flags)
-    : m_impl{new CompiledRegex{}},
+    : m_impl{new Impl{}},
       m_str{re.str()}
 {
-    *m_impl = compile_regex(re, flags);
+    static_cast<CompiledRegex&>(*m_impl) = compile_regex(re, flags);
 }
 
 int Regex::named_capture_index(StringView name) const
diff --git a/src/regex.hh b/src/regex.hh
index c0f3970e..c65ba60c 100644
--- a/src/regex.hh
+++ b/src/regex.hh
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 
 #include "string.hh"
 #include "regex_impl.hh"
+#include "ref_ptr.hh"
 
 namespace Kakoune
 {
@@ -27,7 +28,9 @@ public:
     const CompiledRegex* impl() const { return m_impl.get(); }
 
 private:
-    RefPtr<CompiledRegex> m_impl;
+    struct Impl : RefCountable, CompiledRegex {};
+
+    RefPtr<Impl> m_impl;
     String m_str;
 };
 
diff --git a/src/regex_impl.hh b/src/regex_impl.hh
index 8f11f1af..d8df2255 100644
--- a/src/regex_impl.hh
+++ b/src/regex_impl.hh
@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@
 
 #include "exception.hh"
 #include "flags.hh"
-#include "ref_ptr.hh"
 #include "unicode.hh"
 #include "utf8.hh"
 #include "vector.hh"
@@ -66,7 +65,7 @@ struct CharacterClass
 
 };
 
-struct CompiledRegex : RefCountable, UseMemoryDomain<MemoryDomain::Regex>
+struct CompiledRegex : UseMemoryDomain<MemoryDomain::Regex>
 {
     enum Op : char
     {