Billie Eilish lifts lid on her Tourette Syndrome and ‘doing everything in her power’ to suppress tics
Topics: Billie Eilish, Health, Celebrity, Music
Phoebe Tonks
Featured Image Credit: The Good Hang podcast / Youtube
Topics: Billie Eilish, Health, Celebrity, Music
Billie Eilish has candidly lifted the lid on life with Tourette Syndrome, including how she manages her tics day to day.
The 24 year old singer revealed her insight into the condition while speaking to Amy Poehler on the May 5 episode of the Good Hang podcast.
During their discussion, Eilish admitted that she is fairly comfortable with her Tourette's, but said it's often ‘frustrating’ when others don't understand the syndrome, which causes repetitive or unwanted behaviors that can't easily be controlled,
In Eilish’s case, she suffers from vocal tics, but unlike some other people with the condition, her tics are usually just limited to small noises that can be suppressed or disguised, rather than shouting out words loudly. She did however reveal that occasionally some words becomes tics for her and these have to be carefully and consciously resisted during interviews.
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"When I'm in an interview, I'm doing everything in my power to suppress all of my tics, constantly," she said. "And as soon as I leave the room, I have to let them all out.”
She went on to describe her tics as 'intrusive thoughts, but your mouth has to say them out loud.’
While the condition is often misunderstood, its the misconception that her tics are ‘bothersome’ that irritates Eilish the most.
“If I start having a tic attack or whatever, like a lot of tics in a row, ... people are like, 'Are you okay?' You know, this is very much normal.”
Another difficult hurdle to overcome has been people’s perception of her condition, with some critics doubting her diagnosis because she's not actively displaying tics, or because her tics aren't the ones most people without the disorder are familiar with.
In addition to her vocal tics she constantly has tics in her knees, elbows and hands,- but these often of unnoticed by others.
A big part of keeping her condition under control is the conscious effort put in by Eilish to try and resist her tics. "I'm doing everything I can to suppress every single tic that's visible, from the top of my head to about right here," she said, gesturing to her rib cage. "And that's, like, how we as 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," and the fact that many people don't understand that is "frustrating," Eilish said.
One person who knows this struggle all too well, is filmmaker and activist John Davidson, who also suffers from the condition, and hit the headlines earlier this year after his condition made him shout a racial slur at Michael B Jordan and Delroy Lindo while they were presenting an award at this year’s BAFTA ceremony.
The controversial was especially heartbreaking for John, as a film based on his life and condition I Swear, would go on to win several awards later that same night.
However the outburst showed the true struggle of his condition, in particular a symptom called coprolalia, which causes involuntary, often obscene verbal outbursts that do not represent his actual opinions or views.