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After sharing her breast cancer diagnosis with the world in March, Olivia Munn is opening up about her “terrifying” battle with the life-threatening disease. Over ten months, Munn encountered new motherhood, postpartum, a prognosis, four surgeries (including a double mastectomy) and now, medically induced menopause. The actress shared the news of her condition a year after the initial discovery but has said she “feels grateful that I was given the opportunity to fight”.
Munn reflected on her health journey in a new profile, touching on the random risk-assessment test that she cites saved her life, the extent of her treatment and how her two-year-old son Malcolm, whom she shares with comedian John Mulaney, has helped her keep perspective and “joy”.
“I was not someone who obsessed over death or was afraid of it in any way,” she explained, adding that “having a little baby at home made everything much more terrifying.” Her diagnosis came after a routine mammogram and rounds of BRCA—the tumour suppressor gene that, if mutated, can lead to cancer—testing that screened her clear of any malignant cells.
However, after a common test was performed in her doctor’s office, Munn underwent an MRI which resulted in her being diagnosed with bilateral breast cancer. “You realise cancer doesn’t care who you are; it doesn’t care if you have a baby or if you don’t have time,” she said. “It comes at you, and you have no choice but to face it head-on.”
That she did. And with the utmost strength, too, deciding to mitigate the spread of cancer by receiving a double mastectomy. She recalled doctors found a “tangerine-sized” section of a preinvasive cancer called ductal carcinoma that wasn’t previously detected. “Hearing that news gave me peace that I’d made the right decision,” Munn said.
The 43-year-old added that despite her regular checkups and her solid treatment plan, nothing could’ve prepared her for “what I would feel like, what it would look like and how I would handle it emotionally”. “It was a lot tougher than I expected,” she noted.
Munn also added that her son helped her continue to fight the disease and thanked Mulaney for his support during the period. “It would’ve felt like climbing an iceberg without him,” Munn said of the Saturday Night Live alumni.
On her toddler, Munn said: “When I’m with him, it’s the only time my brain doesn’t think about being sick. 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.
