‘An Uphill Battle’ – ‘Ant Man,’ ‘Lost’ Actress Reveals Struggle with Traumatic Brain Injury
Evangeline Lilly, known for roles on Lost and as the Wasp in the Avengers films, revealed she has sustained brain damage from a traumatic brain injury after fainting and falling face‑first onto a boulder during a visit to a Hawaiian beach in May. Medical scans show that almost every area of her brain is functioning at a decreased capacity, and she says she has had unexplained fainting episodes since childhood.Lilly described receiving the diagnosis as a mixed relief-comforting that her cognitive decline isn’t just peri‑menopause, but daunting because reversing the deficits will be an uphill battle. She plans to work with doctors to determine the causes and begin rehabilitation. Lilly has been on a voluntary acting hiatus as finishing Quantumania, focusing rather on humanitarian work and writing, and she closed her declaration by thanking followers for their concern and prayers.
As a Hollywood A-list actress, Evangeline Lilly has portrayed women dealing with all manner of daunting challenges, from surviving a plane crash in “Lost” to helping save the universe as the Wasp in Marvel’s “Avengers” series.
Now, she’s facing a daunting challenge in real life, with no special effects team or stunt double to save her from struggle and pain.
“Verdict’s in,” she announced recently on social media. “I do have brain damage from my tbi.”
The “tbi” she referenced stands for “traumatic brain injury,” which she suffered in May when she fainted and fell face-first into a boulder while visiting a beach in Hawaii.
Lilly said she has suffered unexplained episodes of passing out since she was a child.
“The results came back from the scans, and almost every area in my brain is functioning at a decreased capacity,” she confirmed.
“My job now is to get to the bottom of that with doctors, and then embark on the hard work of fixing it,” Lilly added.
In the Jan. 2 video, she said medical confirmation of the brain damage was something of a relief.
“[It’s] comforting to know my cognitive decline isn’t just peri-menopause, discomforting to know what an uphill battle it will be to try to reverse the deficiencies,” she wrote in the accompanying post.
The actress said she recorded the video to answer questions people had been asking about her recovery.
Even before the accident, Lilly told Variety, she had already distanced herself from acting.
“I have actually been on a hiatus from acting for the past three years already (since finishing work on ‘Quantumania’),” she told the entertainment news outlet.
“This time outside of the business has brought me a grounding sense of fulfillment and joy. I could return tomorrow, two years from now or never, but at the moment I am not actively pursuing any work in the industry and am not under any contractual obligations to anybody. I am devoting my time to my humanitarian work and my writing.”
She closed her social media post on a note of gratitude to her followers.
“Thank you all for always asking, for always caring, and for your continued prayers,” she said.
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