What happened to the baby who smoked 40 cigarettes a day? This is what Ardi Rizal looks like now

Ardi Rizal’s image went viral in 2010: a one-and-a-half-year-old Indonesian boy walking in diapers and smoking. At the height of his addiction, he reportedly consumed as many as 40 cigarettes a day.

The boy lived in Teluk Kemang village in southern Sumatra, where his mother sold fish. He began collecting cigarettes in the village square after watching adults smoke. In an account published by The Sydney Morning Herald in 2017, his father said he had been the first person to give Ardi a cigarette.

The case drew international attention and prompted intervention by Indonesia’s Ministry of Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection. Ardi’s mother, Diana, faced severe criticism for allowing him to smoke and over his early obesity. The family tried to stop his consumption, but withdrawal triggered violent tantrums. When his cigarettes were confiscated, he would hit his head.

His parents eventually sought professional assistance. Three years after the case began, Ardi started rehabilitation under child psychologist Seto Mulyadi. Ending the tobacco use brought severe anxiety, which he compensated for through food. By age two, he had weight problems, and at five he weighed 24 kilograms, almost six kilograms above the average for his height and age.

At one meal, he could eat three chicken legs, two bowls of meatball soup and a can of condensed milk. The habit continued until he started school, when he reduced his portions after classmates mocked the amount of food in his lunch. The article describes Ardi as one of the youngest people known to overcome cigarette addiction.