Evangeline Lilly says she has brain damage after hitting her head on rock
By Amarachi Orie, CNN
(CNN) — Evangeline Lilly says she has brain damage, months after fainting and hitting her head on a rock while at the beach.
“It’s late on January 1st. 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,” the Marvel star said in a video posted on Instagram on Friday.
She said she received results back from her brain scans and “almost every area in my brain is functioning at a decreased capacity.”
“So, I do have brain damage from the TBI,” or traumatic brain injury, “and possibly other factors going on,” Lilly continued.
“But, 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,” the 46-year-old added, with a chuckle.
“But that’s okay. 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. I think this was the calmest, most restful Christmas holiday I have had maybe since I had children, so 14 years ago. So that’s a good thing,” Lilly continued.
“Feeling extraordinarily grateful and blessed to be able to play one more day, one more year on this beautiful living planet,” she said before thanking her followers “for caring.”
“You are a warrior,” her “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” co-star Michelle Pfeiffer commented under the post, adding a heart emoji. “Nothing—not even this will defeat you my friend.”
“Thanks, Mama,” replied Lilly, who plays Pfeiffer’s onscreen daughter, Hope, in the “Ant-Man” franchise.
“Sending you all my love and a massive hug,” wrote fellow “Lost” actress Rebecca Mader.
Lilly previously revealed in a blog post on Substack in May that she had “fainted at the beach. And fell face first into a boulder,” adding that she has experienced “fainting spells since I was a little girl.”
“The Hobbit” star has since been updating fans on Instagram on her recovery from what she described as “a big head injury” and “concussion” in a post in June.
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