Olivia Munn is detailing her stage 4 cancer diagnosis, which led to a double mastectomy, four surgeries in 10 months and treatments that put her into medically induced menopause.
“I was not someone who obsessed over death or was afraid of it in any way,” Munn, 43, told People in its latest cover story. “But having a little baby at home made everything much more terrifying.”
Last month, the “Newsroom” star announced she was diagnosed with bilateral breast cancer after several tests indicated she had luminal B — an aggressive and fast-moving form of cancer — in both of her breasts.
“You realize 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, referring to her 2-year-old son, Malcolm, whom she shares with comedian John Mulaney.
“It comes at you, and you have no choice but to face it head-on.”
Shortly after her diagnosis, Munn told the outlet that she underwent a lymph node dissection, a nipple delay procedure and a double mastectomy.
“I had amazing doctors, but it was still a negotiation sometimes on what we are doing,” Munn explained. “But I’m glad I did. I want to give myself the best shot of keeping the parts of me that I can keep.”
Just three months prior, Munn was given the all-clear by doctors during her annual mammogram and had tested negative for the breast cancer gene.
“I was walking around thinking that I had no breast cancer,” she recalled. “I did all the tests that I knew about.”
“There’s so much information, and you’re making these huge decisions for the rest of your life,” she went on. “I really tried to be prepared, but the truth is that nothing could prepare me 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.”
The “Daily Show with Jon Stewart” alum said that she knew she made the right choice after waking up and being told that doctors had discovered a tangerine-sized tumor in her right breast.
“Hearing that news gave me peace that I’d made the right decision,” she explained.
She kept her battle private initially because it “allowed me time to fight without any outside noise at all.”
Munn further stated that when the time came for reconstruction, she told her doctors point-blank that she wanted smaller breasts.
“I know a lot of women want to go bigger, but [I said] go smaller,” she said. “It’s so important to say what you want out loud—and don’t stop. Even as the anesthesia was making its way into my body, the last thing I said was ‘Please go smaller.’ ”
In November 2023, she started hormone suppression therapy to help mitigate a future risk of the cancer returning, which has put her in a medically induced menopause.
“I’m constantly thinking it’s hot, my hair is thinning, and I’m tired a lot,” she said.
During the interview, Munn also praised Mulaney, 41, who has been by her side amid the ordeal.
“It would’ve felt like climbing an iceberg without him,” Munn noted.
“I don’t think he had a moment to himself, between being an incredibly hands-on father and going to and from the hospital—taking Malcolm to the park, putting him to nap, driving to Cedars-Sinai, hanging out with me, going home, putting Malcolm to bed, coming back to me. And he did it all happily.”
Despite her ongoing treatment, Munn says being a mother has kept her spirits up.
“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,” she gushed. “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.”
