Evangeline Lilly has broken her silence on why she walked away from Hollywood.
The “Lost” alum, 47, told the Christian Broadcasting Network in an interview published last Sunday that she officially retired from acting back in 2020, though she kept the decision private for two years. “It’s been six years now,” Lilly said.
Lilly, who played Kate Austen on the ABC drama and Hope van Dyne, aka the Wasp, in Marvel’s Ant-Man franchise, has spent that adjustment period learning to live without the spotlight she never wanted. “I’ve always hated being famous. I never made any secrets about that,” she said. “I’ve always said being famous is the cost of the wealth that you can get as an actor. Like that’s what you pay for — the wealth.”
The Canadian actress acknowledged that leaving success behind came with real emotional stakes. “When you’re successful at something, it feels really good when the world says, ‘We love you! You’re amazing!’ Like, this is a wonderful feeling,” she said. “How do you walk away from that? And I’ve had moments of… Gripping fear of like, ‘What am I doing?’ But, ultimately, the decision was one that was made in great conviction.”
That conviction had roots stretching back decades. “When I was 26, I was saying… All the things I wanted in my life… And I did it… I’m there,” Lilly shared. “I’ve already retired. At that point, I’ve been retired for four years… It’s been a long time of adjusting.”
Lilly said she had no idea what the “consequences” of her decision might be, but when she “let go of so much… Power, influence, and potential money” things became clear. Now, she feels liberated and said she has stepped into a “total trust and surrender that God has a plan for my life.”
Her departure from Hollywood followed a turbulent stretch of public controversies during the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2020, Lilly posted online that she was going “#businessasusual” while dropping her kids off at gymnastics camp. “They all washed their hands before going in. They are playing and laughing,” she wrote at the time. She later apologized for “the insensitivity.” Two years after that, she attended an anti-vaccine mandate rally and wrote online that she believes nobody should be “forced to inject their body with anything, against their will.”
Despite her retirement, Lilly is not entirely done with performing. She is working on one new project, playing Queen Bernice in Legend of Destruction, which retells the “story of the Jewish revolt against Rome, which ended with the destruction of the Temple in the year 70.” “This story was so intense and beautifully told, and then also incredibly timely because it’s talking about a society divided unto itself,” Lilly said. “So a society that’s really broken and in civil strife and how that leads ultimately to mutual destruction amongst all of its people.”
These days, Lilly prefers keeping a lower profile. “I’d much prefer a quieter position,” she told the Christian outlet.