Overview

Charli D'Amelio's Anxiety Pen Controversy refers to a controversy surrounding several 2020 viral videos of influencer and TikToker Charli D'Amelio seemingly blowing vapor from her mouth, suggesting she had just hit a vape pen. At the time, D'Amelio was around 16 years old, which inspired criticism of D'Amelio for being perceived as a bad influence. In her defense, some people claimed that the vapor came from an anxiety pen, which is a nicotine- and THC-free vape used to help manage anxiety. In January 2025, shortly before the U.S. ban on TikTok was supposed to be enacted, D'Amelio made a video confirming that it was not an anxiety pen, inspiring renewed interest in the incident.

Background

On January 2nd, 2020, YouTuber^[1] huskerfiend reuploaded a now-deleted video by TikToker @PetrouTV in which he appears with influencers Lil Huddy and Charli D'Amelio. Near the end of the video, it appears as if Charli blows vapor out of her mouth. The video, titled "CHARLI DAMELIO CAUGHT VAPING/JUULING, SMOKE COMES OUT OF NOSE, DELETED VIDEO BY petroutv," garnered over 11 million views in five years.

Developments

In March 2020, D'Amelio was purportedly caught vaping again in a now-deleted vlog by influencer Avani Gregg in which they both go to Hawaii.

The videos of Charli allegedly vaping garnered viral spread throughout 2020 and were reported on and discussed by numerous online media sources.^[2] Some people criticized Charli for vaping, claiming it is a bad influence for her followers and citing how supposedly bad it is for your health. Some of Charli's fans defended her, claiming that it was an anxiety pen^[3] and not a vape.

On August 24th, 2020, X^[4] user @jasonkaylie shared another widely spread video that appears to blatantly show Charli vaping, with X user @nickiswashed writing in the comments, "Charli’s fans are divided over whether it’s appropriate for a 16-year-old to vape. Some claim it’s an anxiety pen, others say it’s a Juul. Legal age to purchase vapes is 21 in California."

Charli D'Amelio Admits It Wasn't Anxiety Pen

On January 18th, 2025, Charli D'Amelio posted a video to her second TikTok^[5] account (@user4350486101678910) in which she admits that it was not an anxiety pen she was hitting in the videos, saying she doesn't know who came up with that theory and apologizing. The video gained over 53 million views in three days.

While Charli claims she doesn't know who started the anxiety pen defense, it was purportedly influencer Larray. Following Charli's video admitting it wasn't an anxiety pen, a clip of Larray claiming it was an anxiety pen started to circulate online.

Online Reactions

Post-January 2025 Video

After Charli posted the video admitting that it was a vape the whole time, discussions, posts and memes about the anxiety pen rumors were renewed (examples shown below). On January 18th, 2025, a post was made to the subreddit /r/LAinfluencersnark^[6] about the video that gained over 150 upvotes in three days.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References