Billie Eilish Admits Dealing With Tourette Syndrome Can Be 'Exhausting,' But She Doesn't Let It Diminish Her Confidence

Grammy winner Billie Eilish is opening up about living with Tourette syndrome. The 20-year-old singer discussed the condition during her appearance on the latest season of My Next Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman.

The topic came about after the star had a tic, which prompted the comedian to ask if she wanted to chat about it in front of the cameras.

"I'm very happy to talk about it," she insisted. "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."

Eilish was diagnosed when she was 11, but since she hasn't been outwardly upfront about it, people who witness her tics are often taken aback. "The most common way that people react is they laugh because they think I’m trying to be funny," she spilled. "And I'm always left incredibly offended by that. Or they go 'What?' And then I go, 'I have Tourette's.'"

The "Ocean Eyes" crooner explained that not all of her tics are stark movements, and they also lessen when she's focused on something specific like singing.

"I never don't tic at all, because the main tics that I do constantly, all day long, are like, I wiggle my ear back and forth and raise my eyebrow and click my jaw ... and flex my arm here and flex this arm, flex these muscles," she said. "These are things you would never notice if you're just having a conversation with me, but for me, they're very exhausting."

The songwriter first revealed the diagnosis in 2018, which prompted some fellow artists to confide in her that they had Tourette's as well.

"So many people have it that you would never know," she noted. "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 because I was like, 'You do? What?'"

While the condition may have bothered her when she was younger, Eilish has now made peace with it.

"It's not like I like it, but I feel like it's … part of me," she said. "And so now, I'm pretty confident in it."