Evangeline Lilly ‘Allergic to Hawaii’

“LOST” star Evangeline Lilly returned to The Late Show with David Letterman last night. And the conversation quickly turned to her relationship with the Aloha State. You’ll recall that in her interview with MSN TV last May, she noted that the islands’ inefficiencies can sometimes make her want to kill herself.  This time, the adverse effects of Hawaii’s weather on her health were in the spotlight.  Also discussed were the dangers of surfing… both as a celebrity and as a biped.

Dave: You spend most of your time in Hawaii. How do you get along with the heat and humidity there, is that all right?

Evangeline: I think we’ve talked about it before. I’ve mentioned that I’m sort of allergic to Hawaii. And last time I was here I had that eye thing, and we showed the picture, it was pretty grotesque. And I had no idea why it happened, but I think I’ve narrowed it down.

Dave: What is it?

Evangeline: I think it’s the vog in Hawaii.

Dave: I’ve never heard this term.

Evangeline: V-O-G. I had never heard of it either. Until I was asking around about what might be causing my eye problems, and somebody said it must be the vog. Which is Volcanic fog. It’s fog coming in from the volcano on the Big Island, which burns… sort of pineapple crops… because it’s ash, so it’s still hot…

Dave: Does it burn chemically as well or is it just in terms of heat?

Evangeline: It feels like it burns chemically when it’s in my eye and I’m trying to deal with rubbing it and pushing it deeper in there. It’s like a little flame in my eye.

Dave: This is not healthy. Did you go to an opthamologist?

Evangeline: No, actually, I just washed it out with water the way you put out a fire. I just thought well, it works for fire it might work for my eye. It’s been successful so far.

Dave: This must be a common problem for people who live in Hawaii.

Evangeline: It turns out vog is the cause of tons of allergies and eye problems, and all sorts of problems in Hawaii, so I’m not alone.

Dave: You have to get out of there as fast as possible. Now I’ve considered this and I think a everybody’s thought about the notion of paradise, retiring to paradise, but you always get what can be stifling heat and humidity. I just don’t know, that kind of wears one down. Do you have any problems with that?

Evangeline: Yeah, I’m not a tropics girl so much. I grew up in Canada. I like the snow, and I like the cold. Although I didn’t know it when I lived in Canada. In Canada, I thought I hated the cold, until I got somewhere where it was perpetially hot and I would kill for just a brisk, cool day in Hawaii.

Dave: Do you take advantage of the activities there? Do you surf?

Evangeline: That’s sort of the sanity. When it’s hot weather you have to get in the water. That was my sanity for a while, until — I’m going to sound like a broken record — I realized I was allergic to the sun in Hawaii.

Dave: Allergic to the sun?

Evangeline: I was never allergic to the sun in Canada, but in Hawaii, in the quantities that you get it, for some reason I got bumps all over my face. And when you’re on television and they go to camera right, and your face… So I stopped surfing, but it killed two birds with one stone because I got really tired of seeing myself in bikinis in tabloids, so I kind of got rid of that.

Dave: Really. You got tired of that. Hmm. Were you good as a surfer? Could you do that pretty well?

Evangeline: No, I was pretty useless. I started surfing a couple years into the show. Although I did once surf an overhead wave on the North Shore of Hawaii, which is renown for big scary waves, but I did have an incident trying to surf that way. When I wasn’t successful, I got caught on some coral, and I really knew I had to get out before the next set came in and smashed me against the coral. And my board was right beside me but it was upside down, and being a novice I thought, “No big deal, I’ll jump on it upside down and get out of here.” Jumped on it upside down, very slick on the bottom. The next wave that hit? The board went flying out up from under me and the very large fin in the center of the board came through the center of my legs and sliced me right up the middle.

Dave: Whoa. Whoa. Wow. I don’t want to be indelicate, but…

Evangeline: It wasn’t pretty.

Dave: Did you require stitches?

Evangeline: I did have to have my surfing partner check it out and make sure I was okay.

Dave: Surfing is one of those things, it’s great if you learn when you’re four or five years old when you’re absolutely fearless. And as you grow older you attain a huge body of knowledge. But to attempt it a litter later in light can be very risky and fraught.

Evangeline: Apparently. I learned that the hard way.

Hat tip: Fred Firestine.

18 Responses

  1. Angela Seits says:

    I almost wrote: “Wow, Evangeline sounds like such a whiner!” but then I remembered that I sound exactly the same way when I talk about my home state of Oregon. To me, the weather in Hawaii is perfect and never too hot and I only feel healthier and more energetic when I visit. But I guess if you’re from Canada and love the cold you would feel quite the opposite. Maybe Evangeline and I can switch places.

  2. Fran Magbual says:

    Heat and humidity? Try visiting Guam! To think I moved here for the cooler weather. :-)

  3. Kevin says:

    Just watched all the Evangaline interviews youtube had. She is way to good for me :)

  4. Belle says:

    I agree with her, a few months ago my boyfriend and I visited Hawaii and I kept getting SICK! We were supposed to have a great vacay and my allergy to dusts just got worse :((
    That was not a very good time for me.

    But yeah, I love Evangeline she’s adorable and heavenly.

  5. Clayton says:

    The vog doesn’t bother me much. Sometimes I do say though, “Are my eyes bad or is it just voggy today?” :)

  6. I seriously think growing up in LA has made me immune to anything. The last time we had that gnarly “VOG” bit a few months ago… I was seriously entirely unaffected while everyone around me whined like ugly stepchildren.

    The only thing about Hawaii that bothers me is the size of the place… eventually you just wanna take off and get miles away from everything and you just can’t. Sometimes its “inefficient” but you can’t have your cake and eat it too can you?

  7. She’s so lame… all the time.

  8. Xapa says:

    She is such a B. I was snapping photos of someone BESIDE her at an event (NOT her), and she was like, No, I don’t give pictures. And I was like, no one wants a picture of your bumpy, ugly face.

  9. Gary says:

    I have some eye problem from the vog also.

  10. Toby says:

    There are very few good reports about Lilly’s behavior on Oahu.

    Local people describe her as arrogant, pretentious and rude.

    I used to think she just needed to be around white people, but some local white people disagreed with that and said she acts no better around them!

  11. Dukester says:

    If Lilly “doesn’t give pictures”, why are there ones of her with fans, occasionally even on the set? Sounds like sour grapes to me.. By the way, I’ve had plenty of run ins with locals who are “arrogant, pretentious and rude”. Whatever, brother!

  12. LostFan says:

    I met her at one of the Lost premiere parties and she was really rude.

  13. Dukester says:

    Ok, what did she do or say that was rude?

  14. Angie says:

    Talk about giving Hawaii a bad reputation. I’ve lived here my whole life & we have pretty much perfect weather. What humidity? Weakling. Max like 69%, but there is so much tradewinds & I know that lost is filmed on the windward side of the island so it’s pretty breezy. It’s nice except for September & it will and on average gets up to about 82 degrees, max 90. The “vog” has only happened for the past year & you only see it maybe once every 4 months for like 2-3 days. Yeah; & the “bumps” on her face & “redness” in her eyes…not to be rude but she does drink/DUI’s probably due to dehydration & poor personal hygienge/washing face/not changing out contacts. Hawaii is really beautiful if you love to be active & aren’t into the hype of all the raging clubs and all. It’s about family & aloha. I’m over her complaining. Hotness only gets you so far and she’s is looking pretty ugly right now. P.S. She should learn how to surf, amateurs shouldn’t be surfing the North Shore it can get up to 30.’ That’s why a lot of tourists die.

  15. patootie says:

    Last comment said lilly lookingpretty ugly dum ars who said that she is a natl beauty and knocked her hygeine what a douche…hope a shark gets your ugly head your mouth is distorted onand turns you into his kebab. Lillyis great….ash and smoke xtremely hard for some

  16. Lavarock7 says:

    I have lived in Hawaii for about 10 years. VOG is similar t osmog but volcano based. Some people are more bothered than others. The actress got some smoke in her eyes, not embers or hot stuff. She was 200 miles from the volcano…

    As for the comment about wanting to be able t oget miles away from people, the Big Island offers that opportunity. An island the size of Conneticut with only 150,000 people on it. Very rural and easy to get away from people.

    Weather is almost perfect. On our island we have 11 of the 13 world clime zones and yes, we DO get snow. You can decide just what weather you want and there is a spot on the Big Island that will match that.

    For me it is 70 at night and 85 during the day. More than 90 would be a record! There is some humidity, but the breezes makes it pretty comfortable.

    If you like it hot and dry, then we also have that. Ask any of the Ironman competitors that were here yesterday.

    Each island is different. Don’t judge a book by its cover and don’t judge a state by actress comments.

  1. February 8, 2009

    […] some of his “LOST” costars have had less than stellar relationships with Hawaii, Kim has long professed his love for the islands, and has immersed himself in the community. […]

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    […] some of his “LOST” costars have had less than stellar relationships with Hawaii, Kim has long professed his love for the islands, and has immersed himself in the community. […]

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