diff --git a/config/kube_config.py b/config/kube_config.py
index 68910841..0ed5a71c 100644
--- a/config/kube_config.py
+++ b/config/kube_config.py
@@ -667,8 +667,27 @@ def __init__(self, paths):
         self.paths = []
         self.config_files = {}
         self.config_merged = None
+        if hasattr(paths, 'read'):
+            self._load_config_from_file_like_object(paths)
+        else:
+            self._load_config_from_file_path(paths)
+
+    @property
+    def config(self):
+        return self.config_merged
+
+    def _load_config_from_file_like_object(self, string):
+        if hasattr(string, 'getvalue'):
+            config = yaml.safe_load(string.getvalue())
+        else:
+            config = yaml.safe_load(string.read())
 
-        for path in paths.split(ENV_KUBECONFIG_PATH_SEPARATOR):
+        if self.config_merged is None:
+            self.config_merged = copy.deepcopy(config)
+        # doesn't need to do any further merging
+
+    def _load_config_from_file_path(self, string):
+        for path in string.split(ENV_KUBECONFIG_PATH_SEPARATOR):
             if path:
                 path = os.path.expanduser(path)
                 if os.path.exists(path):
@@ -676,10 +695,6 @@ def __init__(self, paths):
                     self.load_config(path)
         self.config_saved = copy.deepcopy(self.config_files)
 
-    @property
-    def config(self):
-        return self.config_merged
-
     def load_config(self, path):
         with open(path) as f:
             config = yaml.safe_load(f)
diff --git a/config/kube_config_test.py b/config/kube_config_test.py
index 4b406b34..de1dcc1b 100644
--- a/config/kube_config_test.py
+++ b/config/kube_config_test.py
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
 
 import base64
 import datetime
+import io
 import json
 import os
 import shutil
@@ -1247,7 +1248,7 @@ def test_ssl_with_relative_ssl_files(self):
         finally:
             shutil.rmtree(temp_dir)
 
-    def test_load_kube_config(self):
+    def test_load_kube_config_from_file_path(self):
         expected = FakeConfig(host=TEST_HOST,
                               token=BEARER_TOKEN_FORMAT % TEST_DATA_BASE64)
         config_file = self._create_temp_file(
@@ -1257,10 +1258,32 @@ def test_load_kube_config(self):
                          client_configuration=actual)
         self.assertEqual(expected, actual)
 
-    def test_load_kube_config_from_dict(self):
+    def test_load_kube_config_from_file_like_object(self):
         expected = FakeConfig(host=TEST_HOST,
                               token=BEARER_TOKEN_FORMAT % TEST_DATA_BASE64)
+        config_file_like_object = io.StringIO()
+        # py3 (won't have unicode) vs py2 (requires it)
+        try:
+            unicode('')
+            config_file_like_object.write(
+                unicode(
+                    yaml.safe_dump(
+                        self.TEST_KUBE_CONFIG),
+                    errors='replace'))
+        except NameError:
+            config_file_like_object.write(
+                yaml.safe_dump(
+                    self.TEST_KUBE_CONFIG))
+        actual = FakeConfig()
+        load_kube_config(
+            config_file=config_file_like_object,
+            context="simple_token",
+            client_configuration=actual)
+        self.assertEqual(expected, actual)
 
+    def test_load_kube_config_from_dict(self):
+        expected = FakeConfig(host=TEST_HOST,
+                              token=BEARER_TOKEN_FORMAT % TEST_DATA_BASE64)
         actual = FakeConfig()
         load_kube_config_from_dict(config_dict=self.TEST_KUBE_CONFIG,
                                    context="simple_token",