Olivia Munn Shares Breast Cancer Diagnosis and Reveals She Had a Double Mastectomy
Olivia Munn at the 2024 Vanity Fair Oscar Party held at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts on March 10, 2024 in Beverly Hills, California. Credit - Christopher Polk—Variety/Getty Images
Olivia Munn has revealed that she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2023 and had a double mastectomy. Munn shared the health update in an Instagram post that included a statement about receiving the diagnosis and photos from her treatment in the last year.
“In the past ten months, I have had four surgeries, so many days spent in bed I can’t even count and have learned more about cancer, cancer treatment and hormones than I ever could have imagined,” she wrote. “Surprisingly, I’ve only cried twice. I guess I haven’t felt like there was time to cry. My focus narrowed and I tabled any emotions that I felt would interfere with my ability to stay clearheaded.”
She writes that she kept the diagnosis private because she “needed to catch my breath and get through some of the hardest parts before sharing,” but allowed people to see her when she had the energy.
Munn added that doctors caught the cancer “with enough time that I had options,” adding that she got an MRI after her OBGYN calculated her Breast Cancer Risk Assessment Score and found her lifetime risk was 37%, based on factors like Munn’s family history, her age, and the fact that she’d had her first child after the age of 30. The MRI “led to an ultrasound, which led to a biopsy,” Munn wrote. The biopsy showed that Munn had Luminal B cancer—an “aggressive, fast-moving cancer” in both breasts, she says. A month later, she got a double mastectomy.
Munn ended the letter by thanking her doctors and her boyfriend, the comedian John Mulaney. “I’m so thankful to John for the nights he spent researching what every operation and mediation meant and what side effects and recovery I could expect,” she wrote. “For being there before I went into each surgery and being there when I woke up, always placing framed photos of our little boy Malcolm so it would be the first thing I saw when I opened my eyes.”
In her caption on Instagram, Munn added: “I hope by sharing this it will help others find comfort, inspiration, and support on their own journey.”
Write to Moises Mendez II at moises.mendez@time.com.