diff --git a/type_specific.go b/type_specific.go
index 0dbe062..dcfbc9a 100644
--- a/type_specific.go
+++ b/type_specific.go
@@ -224,6 +224,9 @@ func (v *Value) ObjxMapSlice(optionalDefault ...[]Map) []Map {
 		case map[string]any:
 			result[i] = New(s[i])
 		default:
+			if len(optionalDefault) == 1 {
+				return optionalDefault[0]
+			}
 			return nil
 		}
 	}
diff --git a/type_specific_test.go b/type_specific_test.go
index b3ca0b5..f450fbe 100644
--- a/type_specific_test.go
+++ b/type_specific_test.go
@@ -456,3 +456,19 @@ func TestCollectObjxMap2(t *testing.T) {
 		assert.Equal(t, collectedArr[4], 4)
 	}
 }
+
+func TestObjxMapSliceDefaultFromJSON(t *testing.T) {
+	m := objx.MustFromJSON(`{"rows":[{"id":1},false]}`)
+	fallback := []objx.Map{{"fallback": true}}
+
+	assert.Equal(t, fallback, m.Get("rows").ObjxMapSlice(fallback))
+}
+
+func TestObjxMapSliceInvalidElementDefaults(t *testing.T) {
+	fallback := []objx.Map{{"fallback": true}}
+	for _, invalid := range []any{nil, "not a map"} {
+		value := objx.Map{"rows": []any{invalid}}.Get("rows")
+		assert.Equal(t, fallback, value.ObjxMapSlice(fallback))
+		assert.Nil(t, value.ObjxMapSlice())
+	}
+}