diff --git a/src/tooltips.py b/src/tooltips.py
index 0da0a7ce9..e7023c432 100644
--- a/src/tooltips.py
+++ b/src/tooltips.py
@@ -395,6 +395,7 @@ class GCTooltip(BaseTooltip):
 			status = contact.status.strip()
 			if status != '':
 				# escape markup entities
+				status = gtkgui_helpers.reduce_chars_newlines(status, 200, 5)
 				show += ' - ' + gtkgui_helpers.escape_for_pango_markup(status)
 		properties.append((_('Status: '), show))