The Real Reason Valkyrae Gave Up Smoking Marijuana
Many streamers have chosen to get honest about their addictions, confessing what they once felt beholden to. For example, xQc has candidly spoken about his gambling addiction, and Pewdiepie confessed to a former alcohol addiction that changed his life forever. Now, Valkyrae has come forward to speak about her own former dependence on marijuana – albeit in a much more casual way.
No one can deny that Valkyrae is at the top of her game. She's one of the first women to co-own an esports organization, 100 Thieves, and she enjoys over 3.5 million subscribers on her YouTube channel. That's not to say that she's had an easy rise to the top, of course. Her skincare line went viral for all the wrong reasons and left her to deal with the backlash against her business endeavor. She also recently admitted that she struggles with aphantasia, an extremely rare medical condition that prohibits her from imagining things in her mind's eye. While Valkyrae didn't suggest that aphantasia has hindered her streaming career, one could guess that not being able to picture certain locations or images from games could hold back a streamer.
Valkyrae had an odd rise to fame, going from GameStop employee to the queen of gaming rapidly. However, there was something specific about those GameStop days that Valkyrae just revealed on stream: a dependence on marijuana that didn't suit her life goals. Here's what Valkyrae said about her former habit, as well as why she eventually decided to kick it.
It was legal, but troubling
After one chat member asked Valkyrae if she'd ever smoked marijuana, the streamer laughed, confessing she had. "Back in my day, we used to grow a couple plants," Valkyrae giggled. "I was a mega-stoner ... a very long time ago."
"To be fair," she clarified, "marijuana was legal in Washington state way before everywhere else." Valkyrae explained that she had a medical card prescribing marijuana for pain associated with her scoliosis. The streamer made it clear that she never partook in marijuana while at school or work, but that doesn't mean she didn't live up to her "mega stoner" title in her off hours. She confessed that she felt lazy when she was high, and that smoking just ultimately wasn't compatible with what she wanted to do in her daily life.
Eventually, a fan asked Valkyrae why she chose to quit. After all, she was legally obtaining marijuana for a medical condition. Valkyrae sighed and leaned forward, explaining that she didn't like how lazy she felt while high. Additionally, she said that it was expensive to keep up the habit – a habit that wasn't even fun all the time. Valkyrae noted that when she got high she had a 50/50 chance of either feeling great or incredibly anxious. The constant risk of heightened anxiety – paired with uncomfortable bouts of the munchies and gorging herself on snacks – led her to quit.
While Valkyrae laughed off the confession, it's not the first time that she's discussed her experiences with marijuana. In fact, a post from back 2020 previously helped fans get a more complete picture of Rae's past life.
Valkyrae has discussed marijuana before
Back in 2020, Valkyrae shared a picture of herself from 2015, leading a fan to comment that she looked innocent. Valkyrae responded by saying that she was "such a stoner back then." Fans immediately reacted to Rae's admission, and many seemed shocked that Valkyrae had ever smoked marijuana. One fan commented, writing, "Like we get it, not brand friendly and all, but it really isn't that bad at the end of the day. A lot better than alcohol in my opinion, but personal choices."
In her most recent stream, Valkyrae added some additional details about her past habits, clarifying what she liked and didn't like about marijuana. When one chat participant suggested Valkyrae try edibles to ease her anxiety, she declared, "I hate edibles. I hate that it took a long time for it to kick in and also you don't really know how high you're going to get." Rae explained that she once had a higher dose of an edible than she intended and felt like she melted into her bed. Understandably, that was a scary experience for her.
Valkyrae also said that she couldn't smoke anymore because she was actually experiencing anxiety about her potential anxiety after smoking – or as she said, "anxiety-ception." Because she was anxious about being anxious, Valkyrae eventually decided to simply quit and eliminate the risk of feeling those heightened fears.
Overall, Valkyrae seemed open about her past and nonjudgmental of others who want to partake in marijuana – it simply didn't end up being compatible with her own lifestyle.