Billie Eilish names most 'frustrating' aspect of living with Tourette’s syndrome
Pop star Billie Eilish has lifted the lid on living with Tourette’s syndrome revealing she devotes much of her energy to suppressing her tics so they can't be seen on camera when she's taking part in an interview.
Billie Eilish named the most "frustrating" aspect of living with Tourette’s syndrome.
The 24-year-old pop star was diagnosed with the condition - which causes involuntary movements, noises or speech known as tics - when she was a child and she's now lifted the lid about what it's like dealing with Tourette’s as a singer in the public eye explaining she devotes a lot of energy to suppressing her tics when she's on camera.
During an appearance on the Good Hang with Amy Poehler podcast, Billie said: "I do have Tourette’s and I have vocal tics but, luckily for me and for everyone else, they’re mostly just noises and I can keep them pretty quiet.
"I go through phases of words becoming tics, but you know there’s a thing called suppressing, if you ever heard of it and when I’m in an interview, I’m doing everything in my power to suppress all of my tics constantly. And as soon as I leave the room, I have to let them all out ..."
She went on to explain: "Imagine [having] intrusive thoughts but your mouth has to say them out loud and that is Tourette’s syndrome and I think what’s troubling about the way that people do not understand what Tourette's is ...
"If I start having a tic attack, like a lot of tics in a row, people are like: 'Are you OK?' It's like this is very much normal ...
"If you didn’t see me tic today [during this interview], you’re not looking at my knees, which are tic-ing constantly under this table, and my elbows that are like … I’m clenching my arms the entire time and it's because I'm on camera and I'm trying not to be distracting.
"I am really doing it this whole time, as much fun as I'm having, I'm doing everything I can to suppress every single tic that's visible from my head to right about here [her waist]. And that's how we, people with Tourette's pretty much spend our days. And some people don’t even have the privilege of getting to suppress them at all in any way."
Billie went on to conclude the most "frustrating" part of living with the condition is the lack of understanding from others.
She said: "The ‘not understanding’ of that is really frustrating, as a person with Tourette’s."
The Bad Guy star previously opened up about her condition during an appearance on David Letterman's late night talk show back in 2022, revealing many people don't know about her Tourette’s and they think she's joking when she's experiencing tics.
Billie said: "It’s really weird, I haven’t talked about it at all. The most common way that people react is they laugh because they think I’m trying to be funny.
"They think I’m [ticcing] as a funny move. And so they go: 'Ha', and I’m always left incredibly offended by that. Or they go: 'What?' and then I go: 'I have Tourette’s'."
