Billie Eilish has revealed she gets ‘incredibly offended’ when people laugh at her Tourette’s tics, but she’s not the only celeb with the condition.
While appearing as a guest on the latest season of talk show vet David Letterman’s Netflix show, My Guest Needs No Introduction, the 20-year-old opened up about her Tourette’s Syndrome – a condition which can cause a person to make involuntary sounds and movements called tics.
‘Happy to talk about it’
In the interview with Letterman, the Grammy-winner said she was ‘happy to talk about’ her Tourrette’s and explained the kind of symptoms she displays.
After experiencing an on-camera tic, she said: ‘I’m very happy to talk about it. I actually really love answering questions about it because it’s very, very interesting, and I am incredibly confused by it and I don’t get it.’
Eilish was diagnosed with the condition when she was only 11-years-old and told viewers her tics include wiggling her ears and raising her eyebrows, as well as clicking her jaw and flexing her arm.
She added: ‘These are things you would never notice if you’re just having a conversation with me, but for me, they’re very exhausting.
‘If you film me for long enough, you’re going to see lots of tics,” she told the host. “I don’t care. It’s really weird, I haven’t talked about it at all.’
‘Incredibly Offended’
The ‘Bad Guy’ singer then explained the other side of her condition – the reactions she sometimes gets off people, such as when they laugh at her tics.
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She said: ‘The most common way people react is they laugh, [think] that I’m trying to be funny. And I’m always left incredibly offended by that.’
Lastly, the singer claimed to know a ‘couple of artists’ who have the syndrome. She said: ‘What’s funny is so many people have it that you would never know. A couple of artists have [Tourette’s]”, adding that she doesn’t want to ‘out them’.
Other Celebs With Tourette’s
She’s not wrong there are many celebrities who have been diagnosed with Tourette’s and some have even spoken out about their experiences.
The HBO Ray Donovan star, Dash Mihok, called his Tourette’s ‘the greatest itch you’ve ever had, times 5000’ during an interview. Mihok explained throughout his life he’s experienced all sorts of symptoms including blinking, grimacing, head jerks, shoulder shrugs, grunting, barking, throat clearing, saying words or phrases, and sometimes repeating others’ words.
International football player David Beckham revealed back in 2006 he suffers from OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) through which he developed Tourette’s.
Then there’s the Ghostbusters actor, Dan Aykroyd. The Canadian actor was diagnosed with a mild version of the condition as a child and through therapy treatments, symptoms have subsided into his adult years.