Lewis Capaldi reveals he has Tourette’s syndrome
‘I wanted to speak about it because I didn’t want people to think I was taking cocaine or something,’ singer said
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Lewis Capaldi has revealed that he has been diagnosed with Tourette’s syndrome.
On Tuesday (6 September), the 25-year-old singer went public with his diagnosis because he didn’t want his twitching to be misinterpreted.
Tourette’s is a condition that causes a person to make involuntary sounds and movements known as tics.
“I wanted to speak about it because I didn’t want people to think I was taking cocaine or something,” Capaldi, who is releasing a new single on Friday 9 September, said during an Instagram live session.
“My shoulder twitches when I am excited, happy, nervous, or stressed,” he added. “It is something I am living with. It’s not as bad as it looks.”
Capaldi isn’t the only famous musician who has Tourette’s syndrome.
Earlier this year, Billie Eilish opened up about living with the condition during a new in-depth Netflix interview.
“If you film me for long enough, you’re going to see lots of tics,” she said. “I don’t care. It’s really weird, I haven’t talked about it at all.
“The most common way people react is they laugh, [think] that I’m trying to be funny,” she revealed. “And I’m always left incredibly offended by that.
“What’s funny is so many people have it that you would never know,” she continued, revealing that “a couple of artists have [Tourette’s]”, adding that she wasn’t going to “out them”.
In the UK, more than 300,000 children and adults live with Tourette’s, according to charity Tourette’s Action.
Capaldi’s new single, “Forget Me”, is out on Friday 9 September.