Selena Gomez and Demi Lovato just reunited for a Rare Beauty campaign, complete with Princess Protection Program throwbacks. Cute. But there’s an elephant in the room, and it’s Selena’s voice. Ten days earlier, she said vaping changed it. Netizens aren’t buying it, and most of them aren’t even talking about her tone.

Quick note: yes, this is coming from a vaping blog. We’re still going to break down what was said, what got blown out of proportion and what the facts actually are.

Quick Links (If you don’t want to read)

• What happened to Selena Gomez’s voice? A timeline
• Why netizens are questioning her explanation
• Selena Gomez and lupus: can it affect your voice?
• 10 things that can change your voice (some permanently)
• Did vaping permanently change her voice?
• Why vaping gets blamed for everything
• Unjustified vape hate
• An experience is not a diagnosis

What Happened to Selena Gomez’s Voice? Her Own Words, in Order

Selena’s October Story wasn’t the first time her health, her voice or her habits made the news. Here’s the public record, in order. Orange tags are her own words. Grey tags are times she was photographed or filmed with cigarettes or a vape.

That’s two different explanations for her voice in ten months. In December, it was swelling, plus a sentence she never finished. In October, it was vaping. Neither came with a doctor, a test or a diagnosis, and neither mentions cigarettes. Both came from someone living with lupus and a transplanted kidney, two conditions that come with their own treatments. So her own account is a starting point, not proof.

Why Netizens Are Questioning Selena Gomez’s Vaping Explanation

Read the comments under her latest video and a pattern jumps out. Most people aren’t talking about her tone at all. The most-liked comment, with about 6,800 likes when we checked, reads: “Nicotine doesn’t make you talk slower & slurred.” Another, with nearly 1,500 likes, says nobody is talking about the tone of her voice, they’re talking about how slow and slurred her speech is. That commenter calls herself a hardcore vaper who still talks a mile a minute.

Others jumped to her defence, pointing to her lupus, her transplant and the medications that come with both.

So the real question online isn’t whether vaping made her voice deeper or raspier. It’s why she speaks more slowly than she used to. Her vaping explanation doesn’t touch that, and we haven’t seen her address it.

Selena Gomez and Lupus: Can It Affect Your Voice?

Yes, doctors have documented it. Lupus is an autoimmune condition, which means the immune system attacks the body’s own tissue. In some people it affects the larynx, the voice box that holds your vocal cords. How often does that happen? The research below can’t tell us.

The study people usually point to is a 1992 review by Teitel and colleagues. It looked at 97 patients already reported in the medical literature who had lupus-related problems in the larynx. Of those, 28% had swelling (laryngeal edema) and 11% had vocal cord paralysis.

Now the catch. All 97 of those people already had laryngeal problems. They weren’t 97 lupus patients picked at random. So the study shows what laryngeal lupus can look like. It doesn’t show how many people with lupus ever get it. It’s like counting everyone in a fracture clinic, then guessing how many people in the city break a bone.

Case reports back up the basic point. There’s a two-case report from 2007 and a 2026 case report. They describe individual patients, which is useful for doctors but doesn’t tell us much about anyone else.

So does lupus play a part for Selena? Unknown. Nothing public says it does. What we do know is that a changed voice can have a long list of causes, and lupus is one of the less obvious ones.

It’s Not Just Vaping: 10 Things That Can Change Your Voice (Some Permanently)

So does vaping change your voice? ABC’s report says research hasn’t shown conclusive evidence, though some vapers report dryness, coughing, irritation and a rougher voice. Here’s the part most headlines skip. A changed voice is a symptom, not a diagnosis, and plenty of ordinary things cause one. Some clear up in days. Others can stick around for good. This list is about people in general, not claims about Selena:

Why a Cold, Allergies or Reflux Can Leave You Hoarse

Colds and allergies inflame your throat and larynx. That’s why you sound like a rusty gate for a week. Reflux works differently. Stomach contents can reach the larynx and irritate it, sometimes with no heartburn at all. Basically, last night’s dinner decides it wants a speaking role. Once in a while, that clears up. Night after night, it’s one of the causes of lasting vocal cord swelling.

A Night of Singing or Shouting Can Change How You Sound

The NIDCD lists cheering at sporting events, loud talking in noisy places and talking for too long as common causes of hoarseness. So sometimes it’s not a mystery illness. Sometimes you just sang the whole encore like you were the headliner. Do it often enough, though, and repeated strain can lead to nodules or polyps.

Smoking: The Cause Most Headlines Skipped

According to Cleveland Clinic, long-term smoking is the number one cause of Reinke’s edema, a swelling of the vocal cords that drops and roughens the voice. Quitting can reverse mild cases. Most people with it need surgery.

Has Selena smoked? She told Interview magazine she smoked her first cigarette for her role in Spring Breakers. In 2014 she was spotted holding a pack of clove cigarettes, which set off rumours she’d started smoking. And in October 2025, that wedding-prep clip showed what appeared to be a vape pen in her hand. Smoking history is exactly the kind of thing a doctor would ask about. It’s also exactly what the vaping headlines left out.

Even Miley Cyrus Has Named More Than One Cause

Miley Cyrus is a good example of how messy this gets. Over the years she has pointed to years of touring where the talking all night “turned into smoking all night,” and to the trauma of losing her Malibu home in a fire (Capital FM). In 2025 she said she has Reinke’s edema with a large polyp on her vocal cord, and that partying and smoking “does not help” but, in her case, didn’t cause it (CBS News). One voice, several causes, and even the person living with it can’t pin it on just one.

Even Ordinary Medicines Can Affect Your Voice

Some allergy and cold medicines dry out your throat. Inhaled corticosteroids (the kind used for asthma) can irritate the larynx in some people. That’s according to the AAO-HNSF hoarseness guideline. This isn’t a reason to stop taking anything. It’s a reason to mention a changed voice to your doctor or pharmacist.

Did Vaping Permanently Change Selena Gomez’s Voice? Headlines vs. Evidence

Selena said vaping changed her voice and that she isn’t going to be able to change it. Some outlets ran with that one line as if vaping were a sure-fire way to permanently ruin your voice, no questions asked. Look at the wording: “changed her voice forever” (Gulf News, Daily Wire), “permanent side effect” (Daily Beast) and “permanently” (Page Six). ABC’s report, on the other hand, says the research isn’t conclusive. Same Story. Very different levels of certainty.

So one personal, unexamined account gets treated like medical fact, because it comes from a celebrity. Meanwhile, the questions that would actually help get skipped. When did the change start? Has a doctor examined her? Why is her speech slower, which is what most commenters are asking about? What about smoking, reflux, medications or plain vocal strain? None of that is public, and it gets buried once the headline has picked a culprit. Those are also the right questions to ask about your own hoarse voice.

Vaping Gets Blamed for Everything. Harm Reduction Gets Ignored.

Here’s something that keeps getting lost. Vaping takes more heat than almost any habit out there, yet the health bodies that study it say something pretty clear. The NHS says nicotine vaping is less harmful than smoking. You’re exposed to fewer toxins, at lower levels, which lowers the risk of cancer, lung disease and heart disease. It also cites a 2022 UK review that found vaping poses a small fraction of the risks of smoking in the short and medium term.

The NHS also calls vaping one of the most effective tools for quitting smoking. People who vape are roughly twice as likely to quit as people using patches or gum. That’s harm reduction in a nutshell. If someone is going to use nicotine, there’s a much less damaging way to do it. Vaping is for adult smokers who want to switch, not for kids and not for non-smokers.

Now compare that with what we already accept. Health Canada says about 48,000 people in Canada die from tobacco use each year. Canada’s Guidance on Alcohol and Health says all levels of drinking carry some risk, with links to at least seven types of cancer, including liver cancer. We know exactly what both do to the body, and the evidence has been in for decades.

Meanwhile, alcohol is advertised on TV. The CRTC’s alcohol advertising code has content rules, like no targeting minors, but it sets no time-of-day limit, so those ads can run in the middle of the afternoon. It doesn’t mention flavours either. So fruity drinks in bright, colourful cans are fair game in the commercial break. Vaping is on the other end of the scale. Federal rules ban vaping ads anywhere young people can see or hear them, and shops can’t display vaping products where youth have access. That’s why they’re covered up at the counter. Lifestyle and testimonial promotion is banned outright too. And since September 2024, Ontario corner stores can sell beer, wine and ready-to-drink drinks. Same store, very different rules. The vape industry plays by tight rules, and still takes the harshest headlines.

Yet when a celebrity says vaping changed her voice, it’s front-page news for days. When someone orders another round, nobody blinks. If we’re going to talk about harm, let’s talk about all of it, and keep the proportions honest.

Unjustified Vape Hate: What I’ve Seen Since 2012

Since everyone’s sharing anecdotes, here’s mine. I’ve been vaping, and working in this industry, since 2012. In that time, I’ve watched thousands of our customers switch from smoking to vaping. Some used vaping as a stepping stone and later quit cigarettes and vaping altogether. Others never planned to quit smoking at all. They just wanted a less harmful alternative, and found one.

That’s one person’s experience, same as Selena’s. The difference is that mine lines up with what the NHS says about vaping and smoking. One Instagram Story got picked up by outlets around the world within a day. The thousands of people who quietly switched, or quit nicotine altogether, never make the news. That’s not caution. It’s a double standard.

Conclusion: An Experience Is Not a Diagnosis

Selena has given two different explanations for her voice in ten months, with no doctor’s name attached to either. Most of the internet is asking about her speech, which her vaping explanation doesn’t address. And the headlines picked the scariest version of the story.

Here’s what is on the record. Lupus affecting the larynx is documented. Smoking, ongoing reflux and repeated strain can change a voice for good. From public information alone, nobody can say what changed hers. A headline should never sound more certain than its evidence.

If your own voice has been hoarse or different for several weeks, see a doctor. Don’t diagnose yourself off celebrity news or a forum thread. Get urgent help if you have trouble breathing or swallowing. The NIDCD’s hoarseness page is a good place to start reading.

Sources

• ABC News / Good Morning America: Selena Gomez shares warning that vaping changed her voice
• AOL: Selena Gomez explains why her voice has changed over the years (Instagram Live, December 2025)
• Gulf News: Selena Gomez says she suffered from lupus, underwent chemotherapy
• National Kidney Foundation: Selena Gomez reveals she had a kidney transplant
• The Express Tribune: Selena Gomez caught vaping in Taylor Swift wedding video
• Forbes: Selena Gomez and Demi Lovato’s Rare Beauty reunion (October 2026)
• Yahoo: Why Selena Gomez started smoking (Interview magazine)
• Business Standard (ANI): Has Selena Gomez started smoking? (January 2014)
• Teitel et al., 1992, Seminars in Arthritis and Rheumatism (PubMed)
• NIDCD: Hoarseness
• AAO-HNSF clinical practice guideline: Hoarseness (dysphonia)
• Cleveland Clinic: Reinke’s edema
• Northwestern Medicine: Benign vocal lesions
• CBS News: Miley Cyrus on Reinke’s edema and her voice (May 2025)
• Capital FM: Everything Miley Cyrus has said about her changed voice
• NHS: Vaping to quit smoking
• Health Canada: Tobacco and premature death
• Health Canada: Alcohol-related harms (question period note)
• CDC: Annual deaths attributable to cigarette smoking
• CDC: Alcohol facts and stats
• Durham Region Health Department: Canada’s Guidance on Alcohol and Health
• CRTC: Code for broadcast advertising of alcoholic beverages
• Health Canada: Ban of advertising for vaping products where youth can see or hear it
• Health Canada: Key prohibitions under the Tobacco and Vaping Products Act
• Global News: Ontario convenience stores begin selling alcohol (September 2024)