Marvel actor Evangeline Lilly has disclosed that she is suffering from brain damage, months after a severe fall left her with a concussion and facial injuries. The 46-year-old actor – known for her roles in ‘Lost’, ‘The Hobbit’ trilogy and as the Wasp in the Marvel Cinematic Universe – shared the update in an emotional Instagram video, describing the results of a recent brain scan following her traumatic brain injury in May.

Lilly collapsed while at a beach earlier this year, falling face-first into a boulder. Since then, she has been posting regular updates on her recovery, including the challenges she has faced with cognitive decline.

Lilly says scan shows ‘almost every area’ of brain affected

In her latest video, Lilly told followers that doctors had confirmed significant impairment.

She said the scan revealed that “almost every area in my brain is functioning at a decreased capacity.”

“So I do have brain damage from the TBI and possibly other factors going on,” she continued. “But now my job is to get to the bottom of that with 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 OK. 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.”

In her caption, she added that she found it “comforting to know my cognitive decline isn’t just perimenopause, discomforting to know what an uphill battle it will be to try to reverse the deficiencies.”

Her Marvel co-star Michelle Pfeiffer responded with support, writing: “You are a warrior. Nothing – not even this will defeat you my friend.”

A long history of fainting spells

Lilly originally detailed the accident in a Substack post shortly after it happened, sharing photos of her bloodied face and broken tooth. At the time, she described regaining consciousness after the fall:

“I pull my face from the sand and take a breath. My mouth and nose are full of blood,” she wrote.

Her partner, she said, is deeply frightened each time she faints, “My partner says that when I black out, I look like I die. He gets very afraid. My eyes roll back in my head and all life leaves my body.”

Lilly explained she has experienced fainting episodes since childhood. Doctors once suspected hypoglycaemia, but that was later ruled out. She has since developed her own interpretation of the spells, “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.”

Despite the frightening ordeal, she expressed gratefulness for the moment of collapse, writing, “It might seem crazy looking at my face and my busted tooth, but I feel so grateful that I blacked out. I needed the reset.” 

Career on pause

Lilly has been away from acting for three years, with her last appearance as Hope van Dyne in ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania’ (2023). In a June statement to Variety, she confirmed she is “not actively pursuing any work in the industry” and is dedicating her time to humanitarian efforts and writing.

Her hiatus follows a career spanning television, major film franchises and published work. Born Nicole Evangeline Lilly in 1979 in Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta, she rose to global fame through her role as Kate Austen on Lost, earning widespread acclaim. She later joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe and played Tauriel in ‘The Hobbit’ films, along with roles in ‘The Hurt Locker’ and ‘Real Steel’.