Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai has revealed that smoking a bong for the first time while at Oxford University triggered long-suppressed memories of the Taliban assassination attempt she survived as a teenager in Pakistan.
Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai opens up about the first time she tried a bong(Reuters)
Malala, 28, who is celebrated globally for her advocacy of girls’ education, was just 15 when a masked Taliban gunman shot her while she was travelling on a school bus in Swat Valley. She sustained severe injuries, including a lacerated facial nerve, shattered eardrum and broken jaw, and spent months in critical care before being flown to the UK for specialist treatment.
The bong incident and resurfacing memories
In an interview with The Guardian, Malala described how the experience at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, unlocked vivid memories of the attack and her childhood under Taliban rule. “I had never felt so close to the attack as then, in that moment,” she said. “I felt like I was reliving all of it, and there was a time when I just thought I was in the afterlife.”
She recalled trying to walk back to her room after smoking, only to black out and be carried by a friend. Her mind replayed the day she was shot – the gun, the blood, and being carried through crowds to an ambulance.
Malala said the bong incident had a profound effect on her mental health, causing anxiety and panic attacks. “I’m the girl who was shot … I’m supposed to be a brave girl,” she said. “Until I couldn’t pretend any longer. I’d be sweating and shaking and I could hear my heart beat. Then I started getting panic attacks.”
With the support of a therapist, Malala gradually processed the flashbacks and her overwhelming emotions. She realised she was overwhelmed by exam stress and her childhood memories.
“I survived an attack,” she said, “and nothing happened to me, and I laughed it off. I thought nothing could scare me, nothing. My heart was so strong. And then I was scared of small things, and that just broke me.
“But, you know, in this journey I realised what it means to be actually brave. When you can not only fight the real threats out there, but fight within.”