Billie Eilish Opens Up About Having Tourettes Syndrome And Living With Her Tics
24 May 2022, 15:42
Billie Eilish got candid about living with Tourettes syndrome during an interview with David Letterman.
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Billie Eilish has opened up about her experience with having Tourettes during an episode of David Letterman's My Next Guest show on Netflix.
Getting candid about her tics, Billie explained to the host that she has learned to ‘make friends’ with Tourettes over the years.
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The ‘Happier Than Ever’ songstress said: “I'm very happy to talk about it,” before adding, “If you film me for long enough, you’re gonna see lots of tics.”
The ‘Ocean Eyes’ singer went on to say that her physical tics have become part of who she is because they happen so frequently.
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She continued: “I never don't tic at all, because the main tics that I do constantly, all day long, are like, I wiggle my ear back and forth and raise my eyebrow and click my jaw and flex my arm here and flex this arm, flex these muscles.
“These are things you would never notice if you're just having a conversation with me, but for me, they're very exhausting."
Billie explained that her tics tend to not be as frequent when she’s focusing on something, such as performing, adding: “When I’m moving around, I’m not even ticcing at all.
“What’s funny is so many people have it that you would never know.”
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“A couple artists came forward and said, ‘I’ve actually always had Tourette’s’," Billie added.
Although she ‘really loves’ talking about it, Billie went on to say she’s still ’incredibly confused by it’ and admitted some people don’t always have the best reaction to her tics, adding: “The most common way that people react is they laugh because they think I'm trying to be funny. I'm always left incredibly offended by that.”
Billie was diagnosed with Tourettes syndrome at 11 years old - the neurological disorder 'is a condition that causes a person to make involuntary sounds and movements called tics’, according to the NHS website.
