diff --git a/podman/domain/containers.py b/podman/domain/containers.py
index d4642f72..9ae44544 100644
--- a/podman/domain/containers.py
+++ b/podman/domain/containers.py
@@ -58,7 +58,11 @@ def status(self):
         """Literal["created", "initialized", "running", "stopped", "exited", "unknown"]:
         Returns status of container."""
         with suppress(KeyError):
-            return self.attrs["State"]["Status"]
+            state = self.attrs["State"]
+            if isinstance(state, dict):
+                return state.get("Status", "unknown")
+            if isinstance(state, str):
+                return state or "unknown"
         return "unknown"
 
     @property
diff --git a/podman/tests/unit/test_container.py b/podman/tests/unit/test_container.py
index 49e5a272..3c9b5699 100644
--- a/podman/tests/unit/test_container.py
+++ b/podman/tests/unit/test_container.py
@@ -533,6 +533,19 @@ def test_exec_run_socket(self):
             {"Detach": False, "Tty": True},
         )
 
+    def test_status(self):
+        c_inspect = Container(attrs={"State": {"Status": "running"}}, client=self.client.api)
+        self.assertEqual(c_inspect.status, "running")
+
+        c_list = Container(attrs={"State": "created"}, client=self.client.api)
+        self.assertEqual(c_list.status, "created")
+
+        c_empty = Container(attrs={}, client=self.client.api)
+        self.assertEqual(c_empty.status, "unknown")
+
+        c_none = Container(attrs={"State": None}, client=self.client.api)
+        self.assertEqual(c_none.status, "unknown")
+
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
     unittest.main()