Marvel Star Evangeline Lilly Says She's Now 'Functioning at a Decreased Capacity' Following Traumatic Brain Injury

Marvel histrion Evangeline Lilly has announced that she's suffered encephalon harm owed to an mishap past year, and is present "functioning astatine a decreased capacity."

The star, champion known for her Marvel relation arsenic Hope van Dyne, AKA the Wasp, gave an update connected her information via a video posted to Instagram implicit the weekend, successful which she told fans she had "bad news" to stock pursuing a caller encephalon scan.

"Almost each country successful my encephalon is functioning astatine a decreased capacity," Lilly said, arsenic a effect of an mishap successful May 2025 wherever she deed her caput connected a boulder aft blacking out. The harm has present resulted successful "cognitive decline", she continued.

"So I bash person encephalon harm from the TBI [traumatic encephalon injury] and perchance different factors going on," Lilly explained. "But present my occupation is to get to the bottommost of that with doctors and past embark connected the hard enactment of fixing it, which I don't look guardant to due to the fact that I consciousness similar hard enactment is each I do."

"But that's OK," she continued. "My cognitive diminution since I smashed my look unfastened has helped maine to dilatory down and helped maine to person a much restful decorativeness to my 2025." Indeed, Lilly went connected to picture her last months of past twelvemonth arsenic the "calmest and astir restful" since she had children 14 years ago, thing she said was "good thing."

Also known for her starring relation successful Lost, arsenic good arsenic a crook successful Peter Jackson's The Hobbit trilogy, Lilly's past relation was successful 2023's Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, wherever she erstwhile again reprised her relation arsenic Hope van Dyne. Her quality followed a bid of comments from the histrion connected the deployment of Covid vaccines which raised eyebrows during the aboriginal stages of the planetary pandemic. Following the merchandise of Quantumania, Lilly indicated that her acting vocation was present connected hiatus portion she focused connected foundation work.

Last year, the histrion reported that she had mislaid consciousness portion astatine the formation and fallen "face archetypal into a boulder", and noted that she had suffered from "fainting spells" since her youth.

Responses to her caller station included wishes of goodwill from Lilly's Marvel co-star Michel Pfeiffer and Lost histrion Rebecca Mader. "You are a warrior," Pfeiffer wrote. "Nothing — not adjacent this volition decision you my friend." Said Mader: "Sending you each my emotion and a monolithic hug."

Image credit: Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images for Disney.

Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You tin scope Tom astatine [email protected] oregon find him connected Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social