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Selena Gomez says vaping changed her voice, in a video Sunday responding to discourse about her voice over the years.
“I’m not going to be able to change my voice. I vaped nicotine a lot,” the U.S. singer, actor and founder of the Rare Beauty makeup line said in a video shared to her Instagram stories, which isn’t online anymore.
“Nicotine is so hard to quit, and I think I just wanted to say, if you’re going through it, or if you’re even trying to vape, it’s just not worth it,” Gomez, 34, continued. “It’s so stupid, and it’s changed my voice.
She laughed, while adding: “So if you guys don’t like listening to my voice, that’s totally understandable. I don’t mind. Just don’t listen to it.”
Gomez didn’t specify when and for how long she’d been vaping. “I stopped, and I just hope we can keep it up. It’s really hard,” she said.
“But I know if you are going through something, you can get through it, too.”
Years of health battles
Gomez has been open about her health battles over the years.
In 2015 she shared that she was diagnosed with Lupus, a chronic autoimmune disease that occurs when an individual’s immune system attacks its own healthy tissues and organs.
She has previously suggested that she thinks it had affected her vocal chords.
“Sometimes things happen. I get weird. My throat kind of swells inside sometimes. That’s all.” she shared in an Instagram live Q&A last year.
Gomez also received a kidney transplant in 2017 and spoke out about her bipolar disorder diagnosis in her 2022 documentary Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me.
Our airways are supposed to be for breathing: expert
While Gomez is sounding the alarm, health experts point out that the dangers of vaping go far beyond nicotine.
“Our airways are supposed to be for breathing, not to have all these external things put in it,” said Dilini Vethanayagam, professor of medicine at the University of Alberta.
Vethanayagam told CBC News there aren’t currently any formal, large-scale clinical trials specifically focused on vaping’s direct impact on the vocal cords. But the myriad chemicals in vape smoke, including but not limited to nicotine, “can affect different parts of our upper and lower airways, vocal cord included,” she said.
Health Canada says there are over 1,500 unique chemicals found in vaping products and liquids. The long-term health impacts of vaping are still being studied, but health risks have been identified including lung damage, Vethanayagam noted.
The federal government has promised for five years now to ban flavoured vapes. But it still hasn’t done so, even in spite of a growing body of research suggesting it could reduce youth vaping rates. CBC’s Marina von Stackelberg explains the reasons for the delay.
Speaking out about vaping matters
Still, Vethanayagam says honesty from public figures like Gomez matters.
“It’s good that she’s bringing up the vaping issue with her platform because a lot of people think it’s safe and it’s not — specifically to nicotine and her voice,” she said.
“I’m sure she’s probably seeing someone, like a physician in regards to those specific issues. But yeah, bottom line — and just like we used to say, don’t do it for cigarettes, don’t do it for vaping.”
Gomez, left, and Benny Blanco arrive at the 83rd Golden Globes on Jan. 11, 2026, at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)
Vethanayagam says vaping is “a huge potential epidemic that’s been building,” that requires more “stringent regulations” on their sale and use.
“It’s getting better, but it’s slow,” she said.
In Canada, the federal government announced five years ago it would restrict vaping flavours in the face of a growing number of young people using the products, but it’s currently unclear when or even whether that will happen.
Representatives from N.B. Lung are in Ottawa this week to talk to MPs about legislating restrictions on younger people to legally buy tobacco products, including vapes.
