On FX’s wildly popular series “Love Story,” Carolyn Bessette Kennedy looks incredibly chic in her ’90s minimalist outfits, taking casual drags from her cigarettes.
Fast forward to a fictional world of 2026 and it’s Rachel Sennott’s Maia on HBO’s “I Love LA” lighting up, cool as a cucumber. Off set, stars like Bella Hadid, Addison Rae and Kylie Jenner are glamorous, puffing away for the paps.
It’s official: Hollywood has brought back cigarettes — and if TV, movies and celebs say they’re cool, you know they are. It’s bled over into the real world, too, where young people are soaking in their own blissful nicotine hits, not just from vapes but good ‘ol tobacco wrapped in paper.
The shift certainly feels like a win for those those who quit but are dying to take it back up — and the next generation who wants to look sexy and rebellious with a Newport between their fingers. Here’s everything you need to know.
Everything you need to know? This is bad.
Literally nothing about what we know of the risks of smoking cigarettes is controversial. Even as things like seed oils, fluoride and even vaccines have stirred up an eyebrow-raising mix of contentious opinions lately, no medical expert — on any part of the political spectrum — says tobacco is harmless or “no big deal.”
Tobacco is the leading preventable cause of disease and death in the US, killing nearly half a million people a year, according to the American Cancer Society.
One study from 2024 found that every single cigarette you smoke takes about 19.5 minutes off your life. Seriously. You’re dying six and a half hours sooner for every pack you finish.
There’s a reason cigarettes have been nicknamed “cancer sticks”: Tobacco is to blame for 20% of all cancers and 30% of cancer deaths.
Lung cancer’s the most common — those who smoke are 15 to 30 times more likely to get it or die from it than nonsmokers.
But tobacco can also fill you with deadly tumors and cancer cells in a bunch of other areas of the body, including mouth (a 10 times higher risk!), esophagus, bladder, kidney, liver, stomach and colon.
Still like your odds? Smoking also increases your likelihood of lung conditions like COPD, emphysema and chronic bronchitis. Just see how glamorous a smoker’s cough sounds.
Then there’s your heart. Smoking increases your risk for coronary heart disease and stroke by 2 to 4 times, according to the CDC.
You’re also more likely to develop rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn’s, diabetes and bone loss. Breaking a hip from osteoporosis in your 50s? Decidedly uncool (and painful).
Dementia and hearing loss are up there too — and for men, puffing can up the odds of erectile dysfunction and lower sperm count.
That’s not to mention what it can do to your skin (wrinkles, dullness, loss of collagen — basically looking older), teeth (yellowing, tartar buildup) and (stains, brittleness).
For story after story, The Post talks to doctors across specialties to collect tips for a healthier life, from living longer to warding off illness. And nearly every single time, they warn that smoking is the enemy.
“If there’s gonna be one thing you want to always avoid, it’s smoking,” warned Dr. Evan Shlofmitz, interventional cardiologist and the director of intravascular imaging at St. Francis Hospital.
“Smoking strongly accelerates biological aging by damaging DNA, increasing inflammation and harming blood vessels and multiple organ systems,” added Dr. Joseph Purita, medical director at PUR-FORM.
None of this is new information — so what’s motivating new smokers to take up the habit?
“It’s almost a rejection of wellness culture,” Jared Oviatt, the 27-year-old who runs the Cigfluencers Instagram account, told The Post last week.
Curt Walker, 25, admitted there’s “more than enough science to understand the consequences” but “any chic celebrity or influencer” is doing it.
“You don’t know when your time is going to come,” added comedian Rebecca Reingold, 30. “God forbid you walk outside and get hit by a bus. So if you want to dabble in a drunk cig from time to time, who cares?”
That fact of the matter is, though, the damage done by smoking isn’t a matter of chance, luck or the wrong planetary alignment. The consequences won’t spare you because you’re rich, sexy or famous. Yankees legend Joe DiMaggio, Beatle George Harrison and Rat Packer Dean Martin were all smokers — and all died due to complications of lung cancer.
The most recent data we have for smoking rates in the US is for 2024, and there was good news: We’ve reached an historic low, with just 9.9% of adults reporting a cigarette habit.
While it’s too early to know the stats for 2025 or 2026, it now seems like a worrying possibility that pop culture may be inspiring a shift.
But for the record — it shouldn’t. At the risk of sounding like your middle school health teacher, smoking is bad for you — and you’re much more likely to have a longer, healthier life if you don’t do it.
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