diff --git a/Tusker/Screens/Conversation/ExpandThreadCollectionViewCell.swift b/Tusker/Screens/Conversation/ExpandThreadCollectionViewCell.swift
index 8b9ef49d..260dfa5d 100644
--- a/Tusker/Screens/Conversation/ExpandThreadCollectionViewCell.swift
+++ b/Tusker/Screens/Conversation/ExpandThreadCollectionViewCell.swift
@@ -54,9 +54,12 @@ class ExpandThreadCollectionViewCell: UICollectionViewListCell {
         threadLinkViewFullHeightConstraint = threadLinkView.bottomAnchor.constraint(equalTo: contentView.bottomAnchor)
         threadLinkViewShortHeightConstraint = threadLinkView.bottomAnchor.constraint(equalTo: avatarContainerView.topAnchor, constant: -2)
         
+        let avatarContainerHeightConstraint = avatarContainerView.heightAnchor.constraint(equalToConstant: 32)
+        // let this be broken during intermediate layouts when the collection view imposes a height constraint
+        avatarContainerHeightConstraint.priority = .init(999)
         NSLayoutConstraint.activate([
             avatarContainerWidthConstraint,
-            avatarContainerView.heightAnchor.constraint(equalToConstant: 32),
+            avatarContainerHeightConstraint,
             
             stackViewLeadingConstraint,
             hStack.trailingAnchor.constraint(equalTo: contentView.trailingAnchor, constant: -16),