Obama reveals White House stress had him smoking 8 or 9 cigarettes a day

Former President Barack Obama.
(Image credit: Win McNamee/Getty Images))

There's no question that being the president is a stressful job, former President Barack Obama just had an unhealthy way of dealing with it.

In his forthcoming memoir, obtained Thursday by CNN, Obama reveals he didn't actually stop smoking when he entered the White House. In fact, the stress of the job led him to sometimes smoke eight or nine cigarettes a day, and he often sought out a "discreet location to grab an evening smoke," Obama writes.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.

Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.

Sign up
Latest Videos FromThe Week

Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.