After Jan Zimmermann’s death, Tourette’s came into focus again. Billie Eilish, Lewis Capaldi and more are living with the diagnosis. An overview.
People with Tourette’s often struggle with stigma. Plus: Some features of the disease appear rude, even offensive to the other person without knowledge of the diagnosis – in the truest sense of the word. This refers to so-called vocal tics. Those affected catapult uncontrollably, for example vulgar terms, into their environment. But which celebrities revealed during their lives that they had been diagnosed with Tourette’s?
These are typical signs of Tourette’s
Motor and vocal tics are characteristic of the syndrome. The physical symptoms are mildly expressed in involuntary movements such as eye twitching, nose wrinkling and head tossing – which are often perceived as nervous twitches. Patients who have the severe form of the disease also make faces or imitate the actions of others – which can lead to difficulties in public. Those affected often attract evil looks or are even attacked verbally.
In a milder case, the symptoms that other people can hear range from tic-like sounds or linguistic statements – which have no meaning whatsoever – to coughing or imitating animal sounds. Sufferers with complex vocal tics repeat words or seem to literally hurl out obscene and aggressive terms. The two types of tic occur in the clinical picture in a wide variety of compositions and manifestations. Many sufferers are able to suppress the symptoms for certain periods of time – although this requires massive effort.
This is how the syndrome is diagnosed
Diagnosis is made clinically using a series of tests and examinations. In order for Tourette syndrome to be diagnosed, the disease must have started in childhood or adolescence. In addition, for Tourette’s to be detected, the respective symptoms must occur for at least a year in a row – but these can vary as the disease progresses.
The majority of patients with Tourette syndrome – 80 to 90 percent – also have additional psychological symptoms in addition to the so-called tics. The spectrum of such comorbidities ranges from ADHD to anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorders.
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Celebrities with Tourette’s
Billie Eilish
Billie Eilish was diagnosed with Tourette syndrome when she was eleven years old. The songwriter’s illness manifests itself primarily in the form of physical tics such as moving her ear, raising her eyebrow or clicking her jaw. The 23-year-old deals with the diagnosis openly, talks about it in interviews and explains that she has learned to deal with her symptoms, even if they are challenging.
Lewis Capaldi
The British singer made his diagnosis public in September 2022 to avoid misunderstandings and to explain why he twitches unusually during performances. The illness even led to a tour cancellation in 2023 because the symptoms can be made worse by stress, excitement or joy. The 29-year-old returned to show business after a two-year break – he celebrated his comeback with thousands of fans at the Glastonbury Festival in June 2025.
Robbie Williams
The singer has made it public that he suffers from “internal Tourette’s” – although this is not an official diagnosis of the syndrome. The 51-year-old’s symptoms are expressed through intrusive thoughts – he does not have any visible tics. The songwriter explained on the podcast “I’m ADHD! No You’re Not” that he experiences these thoughts as uncontrollable. The Tourette diagnosis joins the previously proven clinical pictures – ADHD, autism and an anxiety disorder.
Jan Zimmermann
Jan Zimmermann became known in 2019 through his YouTube channel “Gewitter im Kopf”. On the channel he and his best friend Jan Lehmann explained Tourette’s syndrome. In the videos, which were viewed thousands of times, the Bonn resident gave his viewers an insight into his everyday life with the symptoms as well as the successful brain surgery in 2022, which led to a reduction in the tics.
The pair’s goal with the channel was to reduce the stigma and misunderstandings people have about the condition due to the noticeable tics. The YouTuber died on November 18th of an epileptic seizure.