Marvel franchise actor Evangeline Lilly has revealed she is dealing with the lingering effects of a traumatic brain injury following a serious fall that happened months ago in Hawaii. In a video shared on Instagram, Lilly told followers that recent brain scans showed significant changes in how her brain is working.
According to the actress, doctors informed her that “almost every area in my brain is functioning at a decreased capacity.” She added in the caption that learning the cause of her symptoms was oddly reassuring. Lilly said it was “comforting” to find out that what she had been experiencing was not related to perimenopause, which she initially suspected, but instead connected to the injury.
Her next step, she explained, is working closely with doctors to address the damage and begin treatment. The actress, who rose to fame on the ABC drama Lost before joining the Marvel universe, reflected on how the injury has unexpectedly changed the pace of her life.
“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,” Lilly said in the video. “I think this was the calmest, most restful Christmas holiday I have had, maybe since I had children, so 14 years ago.”
Lilly traced the injury back to an incident in May, when she fainted while at the beach. In a Substack essay written shortly after the accident, she explained that she “fell face-first into a boulder.” Despite the severity of the fall, she said she went to the hospital immediately, and initial tests came back normal.
At the time, medical staff were more concerned with what caused her to lose consciousness than with the visible injuries to her face, Lilly wrote. She noted that fainting spells have followed her since childhood.
“I have had ‘absent’ and fainting spells since I was a little girl,” Lilly wrote. “The doctors checked me for epilepsy when I was young and then settled on the idea of hypoglycemia (without doing any testing).” That explanation was later ruled out, she said, leaving the cause of her blackouts unresolved. Lilly acknowledged that the fainting spells remain an “unknown” part of her life.
The actress, who starred in Ant-Man and the Wasp, said the accident forced her to stop after a particularly hectic stretch both personally and professionally. Looking back, she framed the experience as a difficult but necessary pause.
“It might seem crazy looking at my face and my busted tooth, but I feel so grateful that I blacked out,” Lilly wrote. “I needed the reset.” As she begins medical treatment, Lilly said she is focusing on healing and listening to her body, embracing a slower rhythm she had not allowed herself before the fall.
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