Singer-songwriter Billie Eilish, 24, described how her neurodevelopmental disorder affects her everyday life.
“I do have Tourette’s, and, you know, I have vocal tics,” Eilish told Amy Poehler, 54, on the May 5 episode of her podcast, Good Hang With Amy Poehler. “But, luckily for me, and for everyone else, they’re mostly just noises.”
Tourette’s syndrome is a neurological disorder characterized by involuntary sounds or movements known as tics. Eilish, a 10-time Grammy winner who was diagnosed with Tourette’s at age 11, said she can usually keep her vocal tics quiet.
Billie Eilish attends the iHeartRadio Music Awards on March 17, 2025.
I go through phases of words becoming tics, but there’s a thing called ‘suppressing,’” Eilish explained to Poelher.
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She continued, “When I’m in an interview, I’m doing everything in my power to suppress all of my tics naturally.” After leaving the room, she is then able to “let them all out.”
Eilish recognized that those without Tourette’s don’t understand how it feels or what it looks like, with some people noting that they never realized she had the disorder.
The singer also noted that her experience isn’t exclusively vocal. If she isn’t “ticking” verbally or jolting her head, she may be uncontrollably shaking her knees under a table.
Billie Eilish performs during the iHeartRadio Music Awards on March 17, 2025.
The Billboard-charting vocalist said people often react to her “tic attacks” by asking if she is OK.
Eilish has previously spoken about the response she gets from those who witness her tics.
“The most common way people react is they laugh,” she told David Letterman in a 2022 interview for his Netflix series, My Next Guest Needs No Introduction. “Because they think I’m trying to be funny.”
She continued, “And I am always left incredibly offended by that.”
HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA – MARCH 10: Billie Eilish attends the 96th Annual Academy Awards on March 10, 2024 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Sarah Morris/WireImage)
“So many people have it that you would never know,” she told Letterman, adding that other artists have reached out to her about their experiences with Tourette’s syndrome.
While some can hide their condition on stage or in social settings, she said, “If you film me for long enough, you’re gonna see lots of tics.”
In a 2019 episode of The Ellen Show, she told Ellen DeGeneres that she didn’t want the condition to define her work, stating, “I don’t want it to be like, Billie, the artist with Tourette’s.”
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