Billie Eilish is not to blame; Over the past few months, the pop megastar has boldly articulated her secret battle with COVID-19, how her exposure to pornography at an early age affected her, and her anger over restrictive abortion laws. But recently, during its appearance on Netflix My Next Guest Needs No Introduction With David Letterman Eilish discussed a topic she practically never addressed before in interviews: her experience living with Tourette.
It didn’t appear that Eilish was planning to talk about Tourette—who she said was diagnosed at age 11—but the topic came up naturally when a change in set lighting caused one of her tics. triggered. “If you film me long enough, you’ll see a lot of ticks,” Eilish explained. “I don’t care. It’s so weird, I didn’t talk about it. The most common way people react is to laugh because they think I’m trying to be funny. They think I am [ticcing] Like, like, a funny move… and I always get incredibly hurt by it.”
The “Happier Than Ever” singer continued: “The funny thing is, a lot of people have it that you’ll never know. Some artists have come forward and said, ‘Actually, I’ve always had Tourette syndrome.’ And I’m not going to report them, because they don’t want to talk about it, but it was very interesting to me. I was likeYou people does he?! what?'”
Letterman expressed his gratitude to Eilish after the unexpected change of subject, saying, “I hope to God we didn’t make it worse.” “I know nothing about it [Tourette’s]Eilish replied, “I love answering questions about it because it’s really, really interesting. And I’m incredibly confused by this, and I just can’t figure it out.”
Most of Eilish’s tics, such as twitching his ear or twitching his arm muscles, can hardly be detected by anyone other than him. “These are things you’d never notice if you were talking to me, but to me, they’re so exhausting,” she explained. “It’s not that I like it, but it’s part of me. I made friends with it. And now, I have total confidence in her.”
You can watch the full episode of Eilish my next guest Now on Netflix.
After wrapping up some unforgettable sets at Coachella last month, Eilish is now on the UK leg of her “Happier Than Ever Tour,” which also includes a performance at Glastonbury. Check ticket availability for your show on Ticketmaster.
