diff --git a/lib/internal/fs/promises.js b/lib/internal/fs/promises.js
index 42364c78c667cb..050ab6f9e13ab4 100644
--- a/lib/internal/fs/promises.js
+++ b/lib/internal/fs/promises.js
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ const {
   aggregateTwoErrors,
 } = require('internal/errors');
 const { isArrayBufferView } = require('internal/util/types');
-const { rimrafPromises } = require('internal/fs/rimraf');
+
 const {
   constants: {
     kIoMaxLength,
@@ -93,6 +93,7 @@ const {
   kEmptyObject,
   lazyDOMException,
   promisify,
+  getLazy,
 } = require('internal/util');
 const EventEmitter = require('events');
 const { StringDecoder } = require('string_decoder');
@@ -136,6 +137,8 @@ function lazyFsStreams() {
   return fsStreams ??= require('internal/fs/streams');
 }
 
+const lazyRimRaf = getLazy(() => require('internal/fs/rimraf').rimrafPromises);
+
 // By the time the C++ land creates an error for a promise rejection (likely from a
 // libuv callback), there is already no JS frames on the stack. So we need to
 // wait until V8 resumes execution back to JS land before we have enough information
@@ -803,7 +806,7 @@ async function ftruncate(handle, len = 0) {
 async function rm(path, options) {
   path = pathModule.toNamespacedPath(getValidatedPath(path));
   options = await validateRmOptionsPromise(path, options, false);
-  return rimrafPromises(path, options);
+  return lazyRimRaf()(path, options);
 }
 
 async function rmdir(path, options) {
@@ -814,7 +817,7 @@ async function rmdir(path, options) {
     emitRecursiveRmdirWarning();
     const stats = await stat(path);
     if (stats.isDirectory()) {
-      return rimrafPromises(path, options);
+      return lazyRimRaf()(path, options);
     }
   }