Evangeline Lilly Reveals She Suffers Brain Damage After Hawaii Accident: “Almost Every Area in My Brain Is Functioning at a Decreased Capacity”
Evangeline Lilly has revealed that she suffered brain damage after a serious accident in Hawaii last year. The Marvel and Lost star fainted on a beach in May and hit her head on a boulder, causing a traumatic brain injury. She shared the update in an Instagram video on January 1.
“It’s late on January 1, the first day of 2026, and I’m entering into this new year, the year of the horse with some bad news about my concussion,” Lilly said. She explained that brain scans showed “almost every area in my brain is functioning at a decreased capacity.” Lilly confirmed that she has brain damage from the injury and possibly other factors.
The actress also shared how the accident has affected her daily life. “Now my job is to get to the bottom of that with the doctors and then embark on the hard work of fixing it, which I don’t look forward to, because I feel like hard work is all I do. But that’s okay,” she said.
She added that the injury has given her a chance to slow down and rest more. “My cognitive decline since I smashed my face open has helped me to slow down and helped me to have a more restful finish to my 2025,” she explained. Lilly noted that her Christmas holidays were calmer than they have been in years.
Despite the serious diagnosis, Lilly ended on a positive note. “Feeling extraordinarily grateful and blessed to be able to play one more day and one more year on this beautiful living planet,” she said. “And that is my concussion update. Thank you all for caring.”
Lilly had first described the accident in a Substack post in May. She recalled fainting and falling face-first into a boulder. “At the hospital, the nurses and doctor went straight into action, more determined to find the cause of my blackout than to stitch up the hole punctured into my face by the rock. I smiled wryly at them. ‘You won’t find anything,’ I said with a woozy voice,” she wrote. Lilly also shared that she has experienced fainting spells since childhood, but doctors have never found a clear cause.
“I have come to believe that this ‘checking out’ is a result of my little soul reaching her limit of what she feels she can cope with in this life, and she ‘leaves the building,’ so to speak. Or ‘leaves the meat suit’ might be a better way of putting it,” Lilly added.
Lilly’s honesty highlights the challenges of living with a traumatic brain injury while continuing her career. Her update reminds fans of the importance of health and self-care.
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