Lewis Capaldi revealed to his Instagram followers on Monday (Sept. 5) that he was recently diagnosed with Tourette syndrome.
“I wanted to speak about it because I didn’t want people to think I was taking cocaine or something,” Capaldi explained in an Instagram video, adding that his 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.”
While the “Someone You Loved” singer revealed that he hasn’t “really learned much” about Tourette syndrome, he is “learning new ways to cope all the time … Some days it’s more painful than others, sometimes it’s quite uncomfortable, but I guess that’s it.”
According to the CDC, Tourette syndrome is a condition of the nervous system that causes people t to make sudden sounds or have involuntary body movements and twitches.
Capaldi later spoke about coming forward with his diagnosis in his Wednesday Instagram Story.
“There were people on Twitter being really nice and being like, ‘What a great thing for someone like him with his profile to talk about it and be open and spread awareness, to be a great ambassador,’” the 25-year-old said before jokingly adding, “Welp — gaze upon your ambassador. Other people with Tourette’s, hello. I am your leader.”
In the video, Capaldi appeared in nothing but a pair of white briefs, not to share details about his diagnosis, but to promote his new single “Forget Me,” which arrives on Friday.
“Took my clothes off and traumatised the general public all in the name of shameless self promotion. Sex sells. New single FORGET ME out the 9th September x,” he shared on Twitter. In an aside tweet, he added, “I swear to god if I’ve stripped down to my pants and put it on billboards all over the world to promote this new single just for it to be a massive flop I’ll be so embarrassed.”
Watch Capaldi discuss his Tourette syndrome diagnosis below:
