'The Hobbit' actress Evangeline Lilly now has brain damage from concussion: 'Every area of my brain is functioning at a decreased capacity'

Actress Evangeline Lilly, known for her roles in the ‘Ant-Man’ films and ‘The Hobbit’ trilogy, has shared a deeply personal health update, revealing that she suffers from brain damage and decreased cognitive function.

In an Instagram video that she shared on New Year, Lilly said her injury, which she sustained at a beach in Hawaii when she fainted and fell headfirst into a boulder, shared that “almost every area of my brain is functioning at a decreased capacity.”

“So, I do have brain damage from the TBI (traumatic brain injury). Possibly other factors are going on. 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. 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.,” she shared in the video.

The Ant-Man and Hobbit star said that despite her condition worsening, she feels “grateful and blessed.” “This was maybe the most calm Christmas holiday I had since I had children. So 14 years. That’s a good thing. I am feeling extraordinarily grateful and blessed to be able to play one more day and one more year on this beautiful living planet. That is my concussion update, and thank you all for caring,” she concluded.

Here is the video:

Evangeline Lilly fell face-first into a giant boulder on a beach in May 2025. She had revealed that she had fainted on the beach, which had caused her fall right into the boulder, which had then left her with TBI. Evangeline Lilly was last seen in ‘ Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania’ in 2023, where she played the character of Hope Van Dyne, The Wasp.