diff --git a/IPython/html/widgets/widget_output.py b/IPython/html/widgets/widget_output.py
index 09d76ac22..86e320b61 100644
--- a/IPython/html/widgets/widget_output.py
+++ b/IPython/html/widgets/widget_output.py
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ class Output(DOMWidget):
 
     def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
         super(Output, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs)
+        from IPython import get_ipython
         self._ip = get_ipython()
 
     def clear_output(self, *pargs, **kwargs):