--- a/mlx/primitives.cpp
+++ b/mlx/primitives.cpp
@@ -5602,6 +5602,18 @@
   assert(cotangents.size() == 1);
   auto dtype = primals[0].dtype();
   if (recip_) {
+    if (!issubdtype(dtype, complexfloating)) {
+      // Scale the cotangent before forming the reciprocal derivative.
+      // Detach the scale to preserve higher derivatives at the split point.
+      auto one = array(1.0, dtype);
+      auto scale = stop_gradient(
+          where(isfinite(primals[0], stream()),
+                maximum(primals[0], one, stream()), one, stream()), stream());
+      auto weighted = multiply(
+          divide(cotangents[0], scale, stream()),
+          multiply(array(-0.5, dtype), outputs[0], stream()), stream());
+      return {divide(weighted, divide(primals[0], scale, stream()), stream())};
+    }
     auto one_over_x_root_x = divide(outputs[0], primals[0], stream());
     return {multiply(
         multiply(array(-0.5, dtype), cotangents[0], stream()),