Kristen Stewart is smoking again, months after announcing she quit

Kristen Stewart is smoking cigarettes again, just three months after declaring that she was never a nicotine addict and was merely a casual smoker.

Stewart was photographed smoking in front of a sushi restaurant in Los Angeles on Feb. 20 by x17, which noted that Kristen had lit up after dining with several friends. In the photo, Kristen is seen wearing a blue baseball cap, glasses, tight mustard trousers and a black jacket.

Interestingly, Stewart, 22, had claimed in a November 2012 interview with Conan O'Brien that she only smoked because she had an oral fixation and not because she was addicted to nicotine.

"I was a bit of a faker; I was a circumstantial smoker," said Stewart, who has been smoking since her teens. "I just feel like I wasn't addicted to nicotine. I just wanted something in my mouth."

Months earlier, in June 2012, Kristen announced that she had recently quit smoking but was afraid of discussing how she kicked the habit for fear of jinxing herself.

"You can't acknowledge it; you can't think about it," Stewart told MTV about ending her longtime nicotine addiction. Kristen was concerned she might be tempted to light up again if she gets too smug about successfully quitting smoking.

Statistics indicate that about 90% of people who quit smoking relapse at some point, although many do remain successfully nicotine-free.

Stewart, who has been criticized for her longtime smoking habit over fears it may encourage her young fans to light up, has said she's annoyed by her image as a pot-smoking delinquent.

“You can Google my name and one of the first things that comes up is an image of me sitting on my front porch smoking a pipe with my ex-boyfriend and my dog," said Kristen. "It was [taken] the day the movie [Twilight] came out. I was no one. I was a kid. I had just turned 18.

"In [the tabloids] the next day it was like I was a delinquent slimy idiot, whereas I’m kind of a weirdo, creative Valley Girl who smokes pot. Big deal. But that changed my daily life instantly. I didn’t go out in my underwear anymore.”

Meanwhile, Stewart's "Twilight" co-star Nikki Reed recently announced that she hasn't smoked for over three years, and called kicking the nicotine habit her biggest accomplishment.

“I quit smoking three years ago. I feel like it’s my greatest accomplishment," Reed told Glow. “I spent my entire childhood smoking. It changed the kind of person I was growing into, and it changed who I hung out with. I gave myself a disability by smoking.”