In a recent Instagram live, Lewis Capaldi revealed that he has been diagnosed with Tourette’s syndrome. The 25-year-old singer decided to reveal his diagnosis publicly as he didn’t want his tics to be misconstrued as drug use. The condition causes a person to make involuntary sounds and movements, there is no cure but treatment can help manage symptoms.
Speaking directly to his fans, Capaldi said: “I have been diagnosed with Tourette’s. I wanted to speak about it because I didn’t want people to think I was taking cocaine or something.” He described the situation as “new” and said, “I haven’t really learnt much about it.” He revealed he has had Botox on his shoulder to help stop it from moving and that he is “learning new ways to cope all the time.” When speaking on the diagnosis he went on to say: “When they told me, “We think you’ve got Tourette’s”, I was like, “Do you know what, that makes so much sense”. When I look back at my interviews from 2018 I can see that I’m doing it.”
According to the NHS, Tourette’s syndrome usually starts during childhood and the tics and other symptoms usually improve after several years and sometimes go away completely. Lewis revealed that his tic affects his shoulder. “My shoulder twitches when I am excited, happy, nervous, or stressed, it is something I am living with. It’s not as bad as it looks,” he said, “It comes and goes. Sometimes I can go months without doing it. I thought I had some horrible degenerative disease so I’ll take Tourette’s.”
Capaldi isn’t the only pop star to reveal a Tourette’s diagnosis in recent months. Billie Eilish opened up about living with the condition during an interview with David Letterman for Netflix. “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.
Capaldi spoke about his diagnosis following sold-out two nights at London’s O2 Arena. During the show he announced he would be releasing a new single ‘Forget Me’ which is due out on 9th September. He treated fans to a snipped of the new track during his second show in London. Capaldi shot to fame after his single ‘Someone You Loved’ became the best-selling single of 2019 in the UK. In May 2020, the song had become the longest-running top 10 UK single of all time by a British artist. ‘Forget Me’ is Lewis’ first release since his debut album Divinely Uninspired To A Hellish Extent spent 10 weeks at the top of the UK charts.
