Award-winning Nigerian singer Yemi Alade has disclosed that she once struggled with a brief addiction to cigarettes during her university days but eventually quit after realizing the habit was damaging her voice and overall well-being.
Speaking in an open conversation with media personality Chude, the Johnny crooner revealed that she experimented with smoking as a teenager but quickly discovered it was not a lifestyle she wanted to maintain.
“Some people say I don’t smoke, I don’t this, I don’t that. When I was in the university I tried smoking. I did not work out. But before it did not work out, it worked out a bit too much. I started needing to smoke before I go to bed. I was getting addicted to that lifestyle. But also, in public, I would hide the cigarette,” she recounted.
Alade said her turning point came when she realized the contradiction of hiding a habit she wasn’t proud of. “So, I was like, ‘What’s this life; the discomfort that I can’t go to bed without smoking and then when I go out, I am going to hide the cigarette? As a teenager in the university trying to figure out life, I also made certain decisions for myself that if I’m going to hide to do something, I will not do it. Because I like to be aware of my environment and my decisions. And I just said I don’t think cigarettes are for me,” she explained.
The singer added that the habit had a physical toll, especially on her voice, which made her decision to quit even more important. “They are not for me. And they harmed me, they affected my voice anyways. So I stopped. Smoking for me did not last up to a year,” she admitted.
Yemi Alade’s confession highlights the challenges many young people face when experimenting with habits during their formative years and the importance of self-awareness in overcoming them.
