It’s no secret that Charley Hull had a smoking problem. After all, she was filmed lighting up a cigarette while signing autographs at the 2024 U.S. Women’s Open. The three-time LPGA Tour winner has since kicked the habit. But at its peak, her addiction had escalated to as many as 40 cigarettes a day. Appearing on the Untapped podcast recently, Hull opened up about the difficult period in her life.

“Last year, I was on the golf course, and I was going through quite a stressful time, and I was smoking a lot,” Hull told Spencer Matthews. 

When asked what she meant by a lot, Charley Hull gave a startling response. 

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“40 a day,” she answered, leaving Matthews shocked. “Because I was stressed. I was just very, very stressed at the time.”

Her habit of smoking didn’t start with cigarettes. Initially, she was prescribed Xanax by an American doctor. However, she didn’t want to take that. So, the 30-year-old decided to take up vaping. Even so, she heard a lot of bad things about vaping, which prompted her to change her vice. Hull thought if she went out to smoke every time, it would help her quit, but it didn’t. 

When Hull was asked whether she thinks she is the only elite athlete to smoke so much in the world, Hull brought up John Daly, who was even known to light up a cigarette mid-round on a golf course. 

“I don’t know,” she added. “I think John Daly is probably way more than that.”

Hull even reiterated how she ended up kicking the habit, as she had previously done. In 2025, during a round at Sunningdale Golf Club with fellow pro Ryan Evans, she made a £10,000 wager that she would never smoke again. She stuck to that bet and didn’t smoke for the next two months, saving her £10K. 

In a conversation before the inaugural Black Desert Championship in Utah last year, she claimed: “It’s the easiest thing I’ve ever done in my life.” However, last year Golf Week reported that she uses a nicotine pouch but often forgets to take it and doesn’t even notice it’s not in her mouth. 

This revelation came just over a week before Charley Hull teed it up at the Evian Resort Golf Club for the Amundi Evian Championship. But even during the tournament, Hull found herself making headlines. This time for a rather unusual reason. 

Charley Hull revealed the truth behind the ice cream incident

The three-time LPGA winner had a unique opening round at the Evian Championship. And an incident from the round quickly became one of the most talked-about moments in the tournament. Spoiler alert: it had nothing to do with a golf shot.

As Charley Hull charged up the leaderboard, television cameras caught her walking the course with an ice cream cone in hand. Obviously, it prompted plenty of speculation among fans. After the round, the English golfer finally explained what really happened.

“I didn’t eat the ice cream. My boyfriend got it for my caddie, so I held it for a minute when he was putting my club in the bag,” Hull told reporters.

While ice cream may not have been on her menu that day, that doesn’t mean she wasn’t thinking about food.

“I always eat every other hole. So I eat on the third, the fifth, and the seventh, and then just every hole in pretty much,” she added.

The Englishwoman is currently tied for 16th after three rounds. 

Eating is definitely better than smoking. Thankfully, the addiction is well behind her as she moves forward in her pro golfing career.