diff --git a/pkg/controller/controllerutil/controllerutil.go b/pkg/controller/controllerutil/controllerutil.go
index f76e012ea8..8503634406 100644
--- a/pkg/controller/controllerutil/controllerutil.go
+++ b/pkg/controller/controllerutil/controllerutil.go
@@ -91,6 +91,37 @@ func SetControllerReference(owner, controlled metav1.Object, scheme *runtime.Sch
 	return nil
 }
 
+// RemoveControllerReference is a helper method to make sure the given object removes a controller reference to the object provided.
+// This allows you to remove the owner to establish a new owner of the object in a subsequent call.
+func RemoveControllerReference(owner, object metav1.Object, scheme *runtime.Scheme) error {
+	owners := object.GetOwnerReferences()
+	length := len(owners)
+	if length < 1 {
+		return fmt.Errorf("%T does not have any owner references", object)
+	}
+	ro, ok := owner.(runtime.Object)
+	if !ok {
+		return fmt.Errorf("%T is not a runtime.Object, cannot call RemoveControllerReference", owner)
+	}
+	gvk, err := apiutil.GVKForObject(ro, scheme)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
+	index := indexOwnerRef(owners, metav1.OwnerReference{
+		APIVersion: gvk.GroupVersion().String(),
+		Name:       owner.GetName(),
+		Kind:       gvk.Kind,
+	})
+	if index == -1 {
+		return fmt.Errorf("%T does not have an owner reference for %T", object, owner)
+	}
+
+	owners = append(owners[:index], owners[index+1:]...)
+	object.SetOwnerReferences(owners)
+	return nil
+}
+
 // SetOwnerReference is a helper method to make sure the given object contains an object reference to the object provided.
 // This allows you to declare that owner has a dependency on the object without specifying it as a controller.
 // If a reference to the same object already exists, it'll be overwritten with the newly provided version.
diff --git a/pkg/controller/controllerutil/controllerutil_test.go b/pkg/controller/controllerutil/controllerutil_test.go
index a058ce0714..5c481447df 100644
--- a/pkg/controller/controllerutil/controllerutil_test.go
+++ b/pkg/controller/controllerutil/controllerutil_test.go
@@ -103,7 +103,6 @@ var _ = Describe("Controllerutil", func() {
 			}))
 		})
 	})
-
 	Describe("SetControllerReference", func() {
 		It("should set the OwnerReference if it can find the group version kind", func() {
 			rs := &appsv1.ReplicaSet{}
@@ -256,6 +255,98 @@ var _ = Describe("Controllerutil", func() {
 			}))
 		})
 	})
+	Describe("RemoveControllerReference", func() {
+		It("should remove the owner reference established by the SetControllerReference function", func() {
+			rs := &appsv1.ReplicaSet{}
+			dep := &extensionsv1beta1.Deployment{
+				ObjectMeta: metav1.ObjectMeta{Name: "foo", UID: "foo-uid"},
+			}
+
+			Expect(controllerutil.SetControllerReference(dep, rs, scheme.Scheme)).NotTo(HaveOccurred())
+			t := true
+			Expect(rs.OwnerReferences).To(ConsistOf(metav1.OwnerReference{
+				Name:               "foo",
+				Kind:               "Deployment",
+				APIVersion:         "extensions/v1beta1",
+				UID:                "foo-uid",
+				Controller:         &t,
+				BlockOwnerDeletion: &t,
+			}))
+			Expect(controllerutil.RemoveControllerReference(dep, rs, scheme.Scheme)).NotTo(HaveOccurred())
+			Expect(len(rs.GetOwnerReferences())).To(BeEquivalentTo(0))
+		})
+		It("should fail and return an error if the length is less than 1", func() {
+			rs := &appsv1.ReplicaSet{}
+			dep := &extensionsv1beta1.Deployment{
+				ObjectMeta: metav1.ObjectMeta{Name: "foo", UID: "foo-uid"},
+			}
+			Expect(controllerutil.RemoveControllerReference(dep, rs, scheme.Scheme)).To(HaveOccurred())
+		})
+		It("should fail and return an error because the owner doesn't exist to remove", func() {
+			rs := &appsv1.ReplicaSet{}
+			dep := &extensionsv1beta1.Deployment{
+				ObjectMeta: metav1.ObjectMeta{Name: "foo", UID: "foo-uid"},
+			}
+			dep2 := &extensionsv1beta1.Deployment{
+				ObjectMeta: metav1.ObjectMeta{Name: "bar", UID: "bar-uid"},
+			}
+			Expect(controllerutil.SetControllerReference(dep, rs, scheme.Scheme)).NotTo(HaveOccurred())
+			Expect(controllerutil.RemoveControllerReference(dep2, rs, scheme.Scheme)).To(HaveOccurred())
+		})
+		It("should only delete the controller reference and not the other owner references", func() {
+			rs := &appsv1.ReplicaSet{}
+			dep := &extensionsv1beta1.Deployment{
+				ObjectMeta: metav1.ObjectMeta{Name: "foo", UID: "foo-uid"},
+			}
+			dep2 := &extensionsv1beta1.Deployment{
+				ObjectMeta: metav1.ObjectMeta{Name: "bar", UID: "bar-uid"},
+			}
+			Expect(controllerutil.SetControllerReference(dep, rs, scheme.Scheme)).NotTo(HaveOccurred())
+			Expect(controllerutil.SetOwnerReference(dep2, rs, scheme.Scheme)).NotTo(HaveOccurred())
+			Expect(len(rs.GetOwnerReferences())).To(BeEquivalentTo(2))
+			Expect(controllerutil.RemoveControllerReference(dep, rs, scheme.Scheme)).NotTo(HaveOccurred())
+			Expect(len(rs.GetOwnerReferences())).To(BeEquivalentTo(1))
+		})
+		It("should only delete the controller reference and not the other owner references in different order", func() {
+			rs := &appsv1.ReplicaSet{}
+			dep := &extensionsv1beta1.Deployment{
+				ObjectMeta: metav1.ObjectMeta{Name: "foo", UID: "foo-uid"},
+			}
+			dep2 := &extensionsv1beta1.Deployment{
+				ObjectMeta: metav1.ObjectMeta{Name: "bar", UID: "bar-uid"},
+			}
+			Expect(controllerutil.SetOwnerReference(dep2, rs, scheme.Scheme)).NotTo(HaveOccurred())
+			Expect(controllerutil.SetControllerReference(dep, rs, scheme.Scheme)).NotTo(HaveOccurred())
+			Expect(len(rs.GetOwnerReferences())).To(BeEquivalentTo(2))
+			Expect(controllerutil.RemoveControllerReference(dep, rs, scheme.Scheme)).NotTo(HaveOccurred())
+			Expect(len(rs.GetOwnerReferences())).To(BeEquivalentTo(1))
+		})
+		It("should only fail because the scheme is wrong for the object", func() {
+			rs := &appsv1.ReplicaSet{}
+			dep := &extensionsv1beta1.Deployment{
+				ObjectMeta: metav1.ObjectMeta{Name: "foo", UID: "foo-uid"},
+			}
+			dep2 := &extensionsv1beta1.Deployment{
+				ObjectMeta: metav1.ObjectMeta{Name: "bar", UID: "bar-uid"},
+			}
+			Expect(controllerutil.SetOwnerReference(dep2, rs, scheme.Scheme)).NotTo(HaveOccurred())
+			Expect(controllerutil.SetControllerReference(dep, rs, scheme.Scheme)).NotTo(HaveOccurred())
+			Expect(len(rs.GetOwnerReferences())).To(BeEquivalentTo(2))
+			Expect(controllerutil.RemoveControllerReference(dep, rs, runtime.NewScheme())).To(HaveOccurred())
+			Expect(len(rs.GetOwnerReferences())).To(BeEquivalentTo(2))
+		})
+		It("should only fail because the object is not a runtime.Object", func() {
+			var obj metav1.Object
+			rs := &appsv1.ReplicaSet{}
+			dep := &extensionsv1beta1.Deployment{
+				ObjectMeta: metav1.ObjectMeta{Name: "foo", UID: "foo-uid"},
+			}
+			Expect(controllerutil.SetControllerReference(dep, rs, scheme.Scheme)).NotTo(HaveOccurred())
+			Expect(len(rs.GetOwnerReferences())).To(BeEquivalentTo(1))
+			Expect(controllerutil.RemoveControllerReference(obj, rs, scheme.Scheme)).To(HaveOccurred())
+			Expect(len(rs.GetOwnerReferences())).To(BeEquivalentTo(1))
+		})
+	})
 
 	Describe("CreateOrUpdate", func() {
 		var deploy *appsv1.Deployment