The Real Reasons Why Pokimane Doesn't Drink

Pokimane shocked fans by announcing at the beginning of 2024 that she has no intention of renewing her contract with Twitch. The streamer is now a free agent, allowed to stream whenever she wants, on whatever platform she chooses. This decision was not an easy one, resulting in a lot of tears and self-reflection. As it turns out, reflecting on her years at Twitch seemingly put Pokimane in a mood to unpack a lot of things about her life, including her sobriety. 

Pokimane has revealed quite a few secrets in her ironically-named podcast, "Don't Tell Anyone with Pokimane," and her episode "My relationship with alcohol" is no different. In this episode, the content creator looked back on her teenage and young adult years to piece together her reasons for mostly staying away from drinking alcohol. Some fans may be wondering why Pokimane has decided to share so much of her life in this new medium, but as the streamer says in the episode, "I think the practice of vulnerability is the way to connectivity." 

When it comes to drinking, Pokimane explained that she feels like there's been a change in how the world views sobriety: "I feel like it's been a bit of a trend for people to stop drinking or to drink less and less, or at the very least to be more understanding of why someone else may or may not drink ... and obviously I kind of loved it." Here's what Pokimane had to say about her decision to abstain from drinking.

As Pokimane's longtime fans may already know, she had a bit of a conservative upbringing. As part of that, Pokimane explained on her podcast, she didn't really grow up around people who imbibed alcohol on a regular basis. She also always had a feeling that her parents would be disappointed in her if she misbehaved or drank underage, which really made her stay away from it — for the most part. "I grew up a little bit with that pressure, of course, though my friends in high school would drink pretty frequently," she said. Although Pokimane was invited to occasional parties, she never really felt the need to partake in alcohol consumption. Aside from the fact that she cannot stand the way it tastes, she just never wanted to hurt her parents by doing something that might upset them.

However, Pokimane did make an exception after her senior prom in high school. During a sleepover at a friend's place, she enjoyed some gummy bears that had been soaked in vodka. As she explained, she did it because "I felt very, very, very safe and comfortable around [my friend] and the two other people that were there." 

Unfortunately, her next experience was a real drag. During her first week of college, Pokimane went a little too hard at a party. "I'm the kind of person who I either want to give something my all or I don't want to do it at all," she explained. "Okay, same goes with alcohol." At this party, Pokimane drank so much that she became violently sick. Because of this, she said, she can no longer smell alcohol (even hand sanitizer) without feeling nauseated.

This is not the first time that Pokimane has broached the subject of alcohol, but she's never quite gotten into so much detail about her history with it. In the past, she's cracked jokes about people in her chat asking if she does drugs, only to reveal "I won't even take a sip of that Mike's Hard Lemonade."

All of that is not to say that Pokimane never drinks, but as the streamer has explained in her podcast and in a few past streams, she just doesn't enjoy it. Pokimane revealed that being intoxicated sends her into an anxious state of mind, so she doesn't even really have any fun when she drinks. On top of that, she's found that she can't ever fully relax when she goes out with friends, because she invariably gets recognized by people who have watched her channel. 

However, Pokimane hasn't completely closed the door on that part of her life. As she explained on her podcast, "I still have the rest of my life to have a party phase if I wanted to."