Billie Eilish Opens Up About Managing Tourette’s Syndrome Tics
Billie Eilish is sharing her journey with Tourette’s syndrome.
“I have Tourette’s and experience vocal tics, but fortunately for me and everyone else, they’re mostly just noises, and I can keep them relatively quiet,” Eilish noted. “I go through phases where certain words become tics, but there’s a technique called suppressing, if you’ve heard of it.”
She continued, “During interviews, I do everything I can to suppress all my tics. But as soon as I exit the room, I have to release them all.”
The “Bad Guy” singer described the condition as compelling one’s mouth to vocalize all “intrusive thoughts.”
Eilish emphasized that the misunderstanding surrounding tics and Tourette’s is often challenging to navigate.
“What’s troubling is that when people don’t understand what Tourette’s is, if I experience a tic attack, with many tics in a row, people often ask, ‘Are you OK?’” she shared. “This is completely normal. If you didn’t notice me ticcing today, you’re not paying attention to my knees, which tic constantly under this table, and my elbows, which I’m clenching the entire time.”
She added, “Some individuals don’t even have the option to suppress their tics at all. The lack of understanding surrounding this can be incredibly frustrating for someone with Tourette’s.”
Diagnosed as a child, Eilish revealed to David Letterman during a 2022 episode of My Next Guest Needs No Introduction that she rarely talks about her condition, partly due to others’ reactions to her tics.
“It’s strange; I haven’t mentioned it much,” she admitted. “The most typical reaction is laughter, as people assume I’m trying to be funny. They think I’m [having tics] as a joke. So they laugh, and I’m left feeling quite offended. Or they ask, ‘What?’ and I respond, ‘I have Tourette’s.’”
The “When the Party’s Over” singer also briefly addressed her experiences with Tourette’s on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in April 2019.
“It’s something I’ve lived with my entire life,” she explained to host Ellen DeGeneres. “I never spoke about it before because I didn’t want it to define me. I didn’t want to be known as ‘the artist with Tourette’s.’”
