Singer Billie Eilish spoke candidly about life with Tourette syndrome in a recent interview with David Letterman.
The 20-year-old made the comments during an appearance on “My Next Guest Needs No Introduction,” the former late-night host’s series on Netflix. The “Bad Guy” composer said she was diagnosed with the disorder at 11 and it’s been a constant challenge ever since, per NME.
“What’s funny is so many people have it that you would never know,” she said, explaining that she’s aware of several other musical artists who also have Tourette Syndrome.
Eilish told Letterman that she was happy to discuss the condition to help bring awareness. “I really love answering questions about it, because it’s very very interesting. And I am incredibly confused by it. I don’t get it,” she said.
She also mentioned how talking about her condition will hopefully help reduce other people’s negative or unintentional insulting reactions.
“The most common way that people react is they laugh because they think I’m trying to be funny … and I’m always left incredibly offended by that,” Eilish said during the interview.
The Grammy Award-winning artist told Letterman how she had “small” tics as a young child. “For me, they’re very exhausting,” she said, clarifying that she’s since “made friends with it now.”
“If you film me for long enough, you’re gonna see lots of tics,” Eilish told Letterman.
According to Mayo Clinic, Tourette syndrome is a “disorder that involves repetitive movements or unwanted sounds (tics) that can’t be easily controlled,” such as repeatedly blinking, shrugging, or blurting out unusual sounds or swear words.
This isn’t the first time Eilish spoke publicly about her personal life. In an interview with Howard Stern in December, she revealed her struggle with a porn addiction since the age of 11 and how it’s negatively affected her, The Daily Wire reported.
“As a woman, I think porn is a disgrace, and I used to watch a lot of porn, to be honest,” she told Stern. “I started watching porn when I was like 11. I didn’t understand why it was a bad thing. I thought that’s how you learned how to have sex.”
Eilish continued, saying in part, “I think it really destroyed my brain and I feel incredibly devastated that I was exposed to so much porn.”
“I think that I had sleep paralysis and these night terrors slash nightmares because of it,” she said. “I think that’s how it started because I would just watch abusive BDSM and that’s what I thought was attractive.”