Melanie Sykes self identifies as having Tourette's syndrome

Virgin Radio

17 Jul 2023, 14:08

Melanie Sykes has revealed she 'self identifies' as having Tourette's syndrome, despite what other media outlets having claiming as a formal diagnosis.

Speaking with Alan Carr on his podcast Life's A Beach, Sykes opened up about how she believes the condition has impacted her life.

Skyes was professionally diagnosed with autism in 2021, and now joins other celebrities, including the likes of Lewis Capaldi and Billie Eilish, who have been vocal about their own personal experiences with Tourette's.

Once Carr assured her that she was allowed to swear on the podcast, Sykes replied: "Oh good, but I'll try not to, because I've just discovered I have Tourette's."

Sykes was on the podcast to promote her new book, titled Illuminated: Autism And All The Things I've Left Unsaid.

"I am wired a completely different way and I'm only just understanding it," she told Carr.

"Where I used to think 'what's wrong with me?' now I know it's everything that's right with me."

The media at large then took these quotes as an official confirmation that the former model had, like her diagnosis of autism, the as yet incurable condition.

As this story then got out of hand, Sykes was quick to take to Twitter to squash any further misinformation.

Speaking to her followers Sykes had this to say: "Hello there. For the record I have NOT been 'diagnosed' with Tourettes. I self identify because of my studies and understanding of the pre existing 'conditions' that are hand in hand in some autistic people."

This important distinction could be seen as a way to not diminish the recent struggles that Scottish singer Capaldi has recently been experiencing.

Deciding to take a break from touring to adjust to his own official Tourette's diagnosis, after struggling to perform at Glastonbury festival, Capaldi said it made it: “obvious that I need to spend much more time getting my mental and physical health in order, so I can keep doing everything I love for a long time to come."

Tourette’s syndrome (TS) is a neurological condition that causes you to make involuntary movements and sounds called tics.

There is currently no cure for TS, but most people who have the syndrome do not need any treatment, and can learn how to control tics with the help of a specialist.

Common treatments involve behavioural therapy to reduce tics and manage emotional stability, although medicines can be used in instances where the tics are more severe or visibly harmful.

Melanie Sykes joined the Chris Evans Breakfast Show with cinch earlier in the year, spoke about her debut memoir, Illuminated: Autism & All the Things I’ve left Unsaid.

In her book, Melanie tells her story in full for the first time and reveals how her recent autism and ADHD diagnosis has shed new light on her own life.

She told Chris: “The medical model is completely wrong. It isn't a deficiency. In fact, it's how I'm wired, it's how people are wired, it's how they see the world.

"There are neurodivergent people and there are neurotypical people, and people who are neurodivergent or autistic, ADHD, there's a whole umbrella of different conditions that go with it. And it's just that you think outside the box of what is mainstream, what you should do.” 

She continued: “We're programmed from the minute we get we were born to behave a certain way, to look a certain way, and then you go to school and it's even more so, and then you go into the workplace and again, you've got to behave a certain way, and all your natural inclination is squashed.

So, my diagnosis made me realise just who I actually am and what I've been hiding, because it hasn't been required of me. It's not even been asked of me.

Highlighting the struggles that many in the spotlight can face once diagnosed, she concluded: "Can you imagine being in broadcasting, but people don't really want to know the true you?"