Who is Billie Eilish?
Billie Eilish is a well-known international pop icon and lives in America, she has released two albums and an EP, she is also a seven-time Grammy Award winner, and she lives every day with Tourette Syndrome.
What is Tourette’s Syndrome?
Tourette’s is a nervous system disorder that presents with repetitive and uncontrolled movements (liking blinking or shoulder shrugging) or sounds. These are called “tics”. The condition is often present from childhood, but can be diagnosed later in life.
Billie shared that she’s had Tourette’s her “whole life”.
Billie Eilish and Tourette’s
While Billie has spoken openly about her experience with Tourette Syndrome, she hasn’t gone into too much detail.
Billie also hasn’t spoken about what her tics are, only that “certain things” can increase the intensity or trigger episodes.
Unfortunately, fans made YouTube videos of her tics which include her shrugging her shoulders, blinking rapidly, and looking upward. As a result, Billie shared her diagnosis through Instagram:
“I would love to get this straight so everyone can stop acting goofy… I have diagnosed Tourette’s … My Tourette’s makes easy things a lot harder. Certain things increase and/or trigger the intensity of the tics. But it’s something I grew up with and am used to … suppressing them only makes things worse after the moment is over“
Extract from Billie’s post on Instagram revealing her Tourette’s diagnosis
Billie has talked more about living with Tourette Syndrome in an interview with Ellen DeGeneres in 2019. She said on Ellen that she hadn’t spoken publicly about her condition before because she didn’t want her condition to define her. However, she now feels more positively about sharing her diagnosis:
“I think I also really learned that a lot of my fans have it, which made me feel kind of more at home with saying it, and also I felt like there was a connection there”.
You can watch the interview on: Billie Eilish Gets Candid About Tourette Syndrome – YouTube
That’s not the only interview Billie has done about Tourette’s. She gave fans insight into what her episodes are like while speaking in another interview one month prior:
“The internet hasn’t really seen the bad ones [tics], because I’m really good at suppressing them. The thing is, the longer you suppress them, the worse they get afterwards.”
Billie also talked a bit about her Tourette’s in a much recent interview this year with David Letterman on his Netflix show: My Next Guest Needs No Introduction. She shared how people react to her tics and how certain things sets the tics off, such as the lights.
“The most common way people react is they laugh. Because they think I’m trying to be funny. They think I’m doing a funny move. And so they go, like, “Ha!” And I’m always left incredibly offended by that, or they go “What?” and then I go, “I have Tourettes”“
She also talks about how other artists have shared with her that they also have Tourette’s:
“So many people have it that you would never know, a couple artists came forward and said, “I’ve always had Tourettes.” I’m not gonna out them, they don’t wanna talk about it. But that was actually really interesting to me, because I was like “You do?” Like, “What?”
You can watch learn more by watching the full interview Billie Eilish Opens Up About Her Tourettes Syndrome | My Next Guest Needs No Introduction | Netflix – YouTube.
Billie Eilish is currently on tour!
On Saturday 11th June, one of our apprentices, Joshua Buxton, went to see Billie Eilish at the O2 in London, here is what he had to say about his experience:
“Billie’s concert on Saturday was the best concert I have ever been to, it was amazing seeing Billie in real life for the first time and singing along to all of my favourite songs as well. She also interacted with everyone in the audience as well as making sure that everyone was safe and enjoying themselves during the show, I had a great time and I cannot wait for the next concert!”
ATLAS Surrey 