Billie Eilish Opens Up About Her Tourette's In Interview With David Letterman

"They think that I’m trying to be funny"


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Billie Eilish has opened up about her Tourette's in a new interview for Netflix's My Next Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman.

Billie has previously mentioned living with Tourette's, but it came up again in the interview when Eilish turned her head, to which David asked, "What’s going on? The fly?"

Billie then responded with, "No I’m ticcing. If you film me for long enough, you’re going to see lots of tics. I don’t care. It’s really weird, I haven’t talked about it at all."

After asking if she's comfortable discussing it, the singer then began to talk about her diagnosis. 

"The most common way people react is they laugh, because they think that I’m trying to be funny," she said.

Eilish then revealed she knows some artists that are also living with Tourette's. 

“What’s funny is so many people have it that you would never know. A couple of artists have come forward and said, 'I’ve always had Tourette’s.' And I’m not going to out them because they don’t want to talk about it but that was always actually really interesting to me."

Billie concluded the chat by saying, "It’s not like I like it, but I feel like it’s part of me. I have made friends with it. And so now, I’m pretty confident in it."

Tourette Syndrome Association of Australia describes it as "a neurological disorder characterised by involuntary, irresistible body movements and vocalisations."

"TS is characterised by rapid, repetitive and involuntary muscle movements and vocalisations called "tics", and often involves behavioural difficulties. The term "involuntary", used to describe tics, is a source of confusion since it is known that most people with TS do have some control over their symptoms. What is often not recognised is that the control which can be exerted, from seconds to hours at a time, only delays more severe outbursts of symptoms."

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Amber Lowther

23 May 2022

Article by:

Amber Lowther




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