News | Entertainment
19 Dec 2025 1:35
NZCity News
NZCity CalculatorReturn to NZCity

  • Start Page
  • Personalise
  • Sport
  • Weather
  • Finance
  • Shopping
  • Jobs
  • Horoscopes
  • Lotto Results
  • Photo Gallery
  • Site Gallery
  • TVNow
  • Dating
  • SearchNZ
  • NZSearch
  • Crime.co.nz
  • RugbyLeague
  • Make Home
  • About NZCity
  • Contact NZCity
  • Your Privacy
  • Advertising
  • Login
  • Join for Free

  •   Home > News > Entertainment

    Billie Eilish has "made friends" with having Tourette's syndrome

    The 20-year-old singer was diagnosed with the neurological condition - which causes involuntary movements, twitches and sounds - when she was just 11 years old after experiencing "small" tics as a child and although she doesn't "like" it, she's grown to view her affliction as a "part of" her


    She said: "It's not like I like it, but I feel like it's part of me. I have made friends with it. And so now, I'm pretty confident in it. When I'm moving around, I'm not ticcing at all. When I'm riding my horse, I'm not ticcing. When I'm moving and thinking and focusing, when I'm singing [I'm not ticcing]."

    But the 'bad guy' hitmaker admitted she gets "incredibly offended" when people laugh at her tics or think she's making the movements on purpose.

    Speaking on 'My Next Guest Needs To Introduction', she told host David Letterman: "It's really weird. I haven't talked about it like at all. The most common way that people react is they laugh because they think I'm trying to be funny. They think I'm going like [imitates one of her tics] as, like, a funny move.

    "So they go like 'Ha!' and I am always left incredibly offended by that or they [turn their head behind them] and go 'What?' And then I go, 'I have Tourette's'.

    Billie was fascinated to learn other musicians also have the condition.

    She said: "What's funny is so many people have it that you would never know. A couple artists came forward and said, 'I've actually always had Tourette's,' and I'm not going to out them because they don't want to talk about it, but that was actually really interesting to me. I was like 'You do?! What?' "

    The 'Ocean Eyes' hitmaker finds her tics "very exhausting" but admitted people rarely notice them when they are in conversation with her.

    She said: "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.

    "I never don't tic at all, because the main tics that I do constantly all day long are like are like, I wiggle my ear back and forth, and raise my eyebrow, and click my jaw and do that, and like flex my arm here, and flex this arm, and flex these muscles.

    "These are things you would never notice if you're just having a conversation with me. But for me, they're very exhausting."

    © 2025 Bang Showbiz, NZCity

     Other Entertainment News
     18 Dec: Kelsey Grammer feels his newborn son gives him a second chance to nail fatherhood
     18 Dec: Kelly Ripa "tries not to act so much anymore" because she does not want to be away from her family
     18 Dec: King Charles' cancer treatment "can be reduced in the New Year"
     18 Dec: Kim Kardashian's law mentor has praised the star for being transparent about failing her California bar exam
     18 Dec: Glenn Close wants to die in the replica of her grandparents' stone cottage that she is building
     18 Dec: Timothee Chalamet pranked Trisha Goddard when she asked the Hollywood star for a selfie
     18 Dec: Matt Smith has spilled that filming on Star Wars: Starfighter has wrapped - and he is confident it's going to be a major hit
     Top Stories

    RUGBY RUGBY
    High jumper Hamish Kerr is shaping as one of the major contenders for the Halbergs Supreme prize in February More...


    BUSINESS BUSINESS
    Most parts of the economy are growing again More...



     Today's News

    Law and Order:
    Australian man Lamar Ahchee sentenced to 12 years in prison for role in Bali cocaine-smuggling plot 23:37

    Hamilton:
    Police are working to find out who's involved and track them down - after a person died and another's been seriously injured in central Hamilton 21:57

    Entertainment:
    Kelsey Grammer feels his newborn son gives him a second chance to nail fatherhood 21:50

    Entertainment:
    Kelly Ripa "tries not to act so much anymore" because she does not want to be away from her family 21:20

    Rugby League:
    Rugby league's NRL has issued breach notices to the Sydney Roosters in relation to salary cap overspend and the Melbourne Storm in relation to team selection protocols 21:17

    Law and Order:
    Former senior police officers detail why Bondi Beach terror incident was so difficult to defend 20:57

    Entertainment:
    King Charles' cancer treatment "can be reduced in the New Year" 20:50

    Entertainment:
    Kim Kardashian's law mentor has praised the star for being transparent about failing her California bar exam 20:20

    Living & Travel:
    How to handle awkward comments and conversations this Christmas 19:57

    Entertainment:
    Glenn Close wants to die in the replica of her grandparents' stone cottage that she is building 19:50


     News Search






    Power Search


    © 2025 New Zealand City Ltd