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Billie Eilish in a new interview has revealed that living with Tourette’s Syndrome (TS) is “extremely tiring.”
She made this known while speaking on David Letterman’s Netflix show “My Next Guest,” the 20-year-old had an on-camera tic.
“If you video me long enough, you’ll see a lot of tics,” she explained.
According to Tourette’s Action, around 300,000 children and adults in the UK have TS. Tics are involuntary sounds and movements caused by TS. It normally begins in childhood, but the tics and other symptoms usually improve over time and eventually disappear.
During the interview, Billie stated that she does not have tics while performing and that some tics have faded with time, but others continue to occur on a regular basis.
“These are things you’d never notice if we were just talking,” she adds, adding, “but they’re incredibly exhausting for me.”
The singer said she “truly enjoys” discussing her TS experience, but admits she is “very perplexed” by it. And she stated that when she has a tic, people don’t always react well.
“People usually laugh because they think I’m trying to be funny. That usually makes me feel terribly offended, “she remarked.
Terrina Bibb understands that reaction. The 29-year-old from Redditch, West Midlands, began experiencing tics at the age of 21 and was ultimately identified at the age of 24, which is late. She remembers someone staring at her in a restaurant during a “very nasty tic attack” a year ago.
“It’s simply impolite, and it irritates me. ‘Why do you have to swear so much?’ people ask. I wish I didn’t have to, but I have no control over it “she says.
She wants people to treat her – and other people with TS – properly, and she says she doesn’t mind “educating people on it,” but “I just don’t think people should be disrespectful.”
Terrina is a self-employed artist who works from home on a daily basis. Because she has verbal and mechanical tics, she has “good days and bad days.”
“It’s a crippling condition. I use a walking stick all the time since I can’t walk properly and I also use a wheelchair.”
Terrina says her leg tics make mornings “very awful,” and she has to rely on her boyfriend or mother for assistance.
Terrina uses art to “release those tics.”
“Especially my hand tics, where I’ll grasp a pen and scribble in a zigzag pattern. So those tics are released through something I enjoy doing, which is extremely pleasant.”
In her garden, she also has a boxing punch bag, which she says “helps stop my Tourette’s for a few hours.”
Terrina believes that having someone like Billie Eilish tell her story is crucial. “Hopefully, it will normalize it,” she adds.
