Evangeline Lilly Explains Why She Left Hollywood: "I've Always Hated Being Famous"
Evangeline Lilly has opened up about her decision to walk away from acting, telling the Christian Broadcasting Network in an interview published October 19 that fame was never something she wanted — remarks widely covered on October 22 by PEOPLE, Entertainment Weekly and Parade.
"The cost of the wealth"
Lilly revealed she officially retired from acting in 2020, a decision she only shared publicly in June 2024. "I'd much prefer a quieter position. I've always hated being famous," she told CBN. "I've never made any secrets about that. I've always said being famous is the cost of the wealth that you can get as an actor." The wording is reported consistently across the outlets.
Six years of adjusting
"It's been six years now," she said of life after acting, describing "moments of gripping fear" about leaving the career behind. She also told CBN about 22 years of hands-on humanitarian work in Rwanda, and said she is now focused on writing rather than performing.
A deliberate step away
The interview presents the departure not as a fading out but as a chosen quieter life: an actor who weighed the spotlight's demands and, six years on, still stands by the decision to leave it.
Widely carried on October 22
PEOPLE, Entertainment Weekly and Parade all carried the interview on October 22, framing it as one of her most direct statements about fame since the June 2024 announcement in which she first revealed the 2020 retirement.
Her June 2024 announcement had marked the public end of a screen career that began in the early 2000s and ended quietly in 2020 — six years before she was ready to talk about it in detail.
Sources: PEOPLE; Entertainment Weekly; Parade; Christian Broadcasting Network.