Billie Eilish has taken to her Instagram to confirm that she was diagnosed with Tourette Syndrome when she was a kid, after a compilation video collating her physical tics was posted on YouTube.
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The 16-year-old singer posted on her Insta story about her diagnosis, saying that she hadn’t brought it up before now because she didn’t think people would believe her, and she didn’t want people to focus on her disorder over her as a person.
She also says that her tics are physical ones – small, rapid movements known as ‘simple’ tics, which Billie says are not really that noticeable to others.
Billie doesn’t experience more complex tics like full-body motor movements or vocalisations like echoing and repeating words or uttering swear words, and it’s important to remember that Tourettes (as Tourette Syndrome is commonly referred to) is very much a spectrum of tics and behaviour.
My tourettes makes easy things a lot harder. Certain things increase and/or trigger the intensity of my tics. But its something I grew up with and am used to…
The YouTube video that highlighted her tics showed closeups of her eyebrow flickering rapidly, and her eyes widening regularly throughout an interview.
Billie also said that she hadn’t discussed her neurological disorder before now because a lot of her mannerisms are just her “being a fuckin goof” and not part of her simple tics.
