News | Entertainment
3 Jul 2025 17:55
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
     03 Jul: Dick Van Dyke was forced to pull out of a comedy event at the last minute due to illness
     03 Jul: Cynthia Nixon feels she's able to "show so many more colours" in her characters at her age
     03 Jul: Jennifer Aniston wants to star in a Broadway show
     03 Jul: Neil Young joked about his dispute with the BBC after taking to the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury
     03 Jul: Henry Golding thinks playing James Bond would be a "nightmare"
     03 Jul: Porsha Williams is taking a break from dating after finalising her divorce from Simon Guobadia
     03 Jul: Adult film star Kylie Paige has died aged 28
     Top Stories

    RUGBY RUGBY
    Rieko Ioane will start on the wing for the All Blacks for the first time in three and a half years when the test season gets underway against France on Saturday night More...


    BUSINESS BUSINESS
    Consumer spending's continuing to pick up More...



     Today's News

    Entertainment:
    Dick Van Dyke was forced to pull out of a comedy event at the last minute due to illness 17:36

    Law and Order:
    Police have charged a man with manslaughter over a fatal Southland crash in February 17:27

    Law and Order:
    A woman's been charged with interfering with human remains - over a newborn's body found in an Auckland wheelie bin on Tuesday 17:17

    Entertainment:
    Cynthia Nixon feels she's able to "show so many more colours" in her characters at her age 17:06

    Rugby:
    Rieko Ioane will start on the wing for the All Blacks for the first time in three and a half years when the test season gets underway against France on Saturday night 16:57

    Boxing:
    Retirement hasn't lasted long for British boxing icon Tyson Fury 16:37

    Entertainment:
    Jennifer Aniston wants to star in a Broadway show 16:36

    Basketball:
    Kiwi basketballer Tyrell Harrison will play for the Denver Nuggets in the NBA Summer League 16:17

    Politics:
    Trump’s ‘big beautiful bill’ has passed the US Senate – these are the winners and losers 16:07

    International:
    Sean 'Diddy' Combs: The rise, fall and acquittal of a hip hop mogul 16:07


     News Search






    Power Search


    © 2025 New Zealand City Ltd