Evangeline Lilly Shares Update After Beach Accident Left Her With Brain Injury
Evangeline Lilly has opened up about her ongoing recovery after a serious head injury on a beach last year, revealing new details about her health and life away from the spotlight.
Canadian actor Evangeline Lilly has spoken out about the lasting effects of a head injury she suffered on a beach in May last year. Known for her roles in The Hobbit, Lost, and the Marvel films, Lilly took to Instagram on 3 January to let her followers know how she’s been tracking since the accident.
Lilly explained that she fainted while at the beach, falling face-first into a boulder. The incident left her with a concussion and, as she’s now discovered, more serious consequences. After a recent scan, she learned that nearly every part of her brain is now working at a lower capacity than before. She described the news as “bad”, saying,
“So I do have brain damage from the TBI [traumatic brain injury] and possibly other factors going on,”
before adding,
“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.”
Living With the Impact
Despite the diagnosis, Lilly said she’s come to terms with the challenge ahead. She reckons her cognitive decline since the accident has actually forced her to slow down, which has helped her have a more restful end to 2025. She’s not shying away from the tough road of rehabilitation, even if it’s not something she’s keen on.
Reflecting on the day of the accident, Lilly recalled in a Substack post that she’s had fainting spells since she was a kid. About the incident, she wrote,
“I pull my face from the sand and take a breath. My mouth and nose are full of blood.”
She went on to say,
“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.”
Stepping Away From the Spotlight
Lilly hasn’t appeared on screen for the past three years, having stepped back from Hollywood. Her last film role was in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania in 2023. In an interview with Variety last June, she said she wasn’t planning a return to the industry, instead focusing on humanitarian work and writing.
She’s been keeping her fans updated on her recovery journey, sharing honest reflections and the realities of living with a brain injury. The actor’s openness has resonated with many, as she navigates both her health and her life outside the limelight.