Olivia Munn. John Shearer/Getty Images
Olivia Munn said she was “devastated” after a double mastectomy following her breast cancer diagnosis last year.
“I cried a week after, because that was the first time I saw my breasts,” Munn, 43, said during the Tuesday, June 4, episode of the “SheMD” podcast. “I was by myself in my bathroom, and I looked at them, and I cried in a way that I don’t think I’ve ever cried in my life. I cried. I was devastated. I didn’t recognize myself.”
The X-Men: Apocalypse star explained that she “didn’t want to have big breasts,” noting, “All I care about is that I’m alive and I’m here for my baby.” (Munn and John Mulaney share 2-year-old son Malcolm.)
“But putting that to the side, one day people will forget or not know, or maybe I’ll never tell people that I had cancer, but they’ll look at me and go, ‘Oh, what a bad boob job. Oh, look at her,’” she explained.
One of Munn’s worries was that she wouldn’t know how to dress herself after the surgery.
“I thought, ‘Oh, there are so many things that I’ll never be able to wear,’” she said. “It just looked like someone took off my breasts and then took, like, some tape and paper and Tupperware and were like, ‘Here.’”
Munn explained that she “wanted to be able to hide the scars,” adding, “I want to be able to hide the sides of the implant and feel comfortable like that.”
“Maybe one day I’ll get more comfortable with it,” she added. “I don’t look the same, but that’s OK. I’m here.”
Many celebrities have spoken out about their personal battles with breast cancer over the years. Julia Louis-Dreyfus went public with her breast cancer diagnosis in September 2017 via Instagram. Nearly one year later, she had successfully beaten the illness and returned to work on Veep. “It sounds kind of corny, but there’s something about after […]
Although Munn was diagnosed with breast cancer in February 2023, the actress didn’t come forward publicly until March.
In a lengthy Instagram post at the time, Munn wrote that she initially “took a genetic test that checks you for 90 different cancer genes,” adding,“I tested negative for all, including BRCA (the most well-known breast cancer gene). My sister Sara [Potts] had just tested negative as well. We called each other and high-fived over the phone. That same winter I also had a normal mammogram.”
Despite those promising results, Munn faced an unexpected turn when she received a breast cancer diagnosis two months later.
“Surprisingly, I’ve only cried twice,” she continued. “I guess I haven’t felt like there was time to cry.”
A new chapter! Although Olivia Munn initially kept her’ pregnancy under wraps, she and John Mulaney have spoken candidly about their growing family since his September 2021 announcement. “We’re having a baby together,” the Saturday Night Live alum told Seth Meyers at the time. “I was nervous when I was about to say the news!” […]
In April, Munn said that Malcolm has helped her keep her spirits high.
“When I’m with him, it’s the only time my brain doesn’t think about being sick,” she told People. “I’m just so happy with him. And it puts a lot of stuff into perspective. Because if my body changes, I’m still his mom. If I have hot flashes, I’m still his mom. If I lose my hair, I’m still his mom. That’s really what matters the most to me. I get to be here for him.”
