Olivia Munn on Facing ‘Terrifying’ Breast Cancer Diagnosis

Olivia Munn is opening up about her breast cancer battle in this week’s People cover story.

The star shares the shocking way she found out she had cancer, details the four surgeries that followed, and talks about receiving medically induced menopause to reduce future risks.

Munn recalled finding out she had cancer just one year after welcoming son Malcolm with partner John Mulaney. She told the magazine, “I was not someone who obsessed over death or was afraid of it in any way,” but said, “Having a little baby at home made everything much more terrifying.”

The actress, who was about to start filming a sci-fi film in Germany at the time, went on, “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. It comes at you, and you have no choice but to face it head-on.”

Munn feels lucky doctors caught the cancer when they did, because at that point she had just had a mammogram that came back clear and tested negative for the BRCA cancer gene. Only four out of five breast cancers, however, can be detected through mammograms.

“I was walking around thinking that I had no breast cancer,” she explained. “I did all the tests that I knew about.”

Despite the other tests, her ob-gyn Dr. Thaïs Aliabadi took it one step further and recommended Olivia learn her lifetime breast cancer risk score. Using a free online tool called the Tyrer-Cuzick risk assessment calculator, Aliabadi was able to determine that Olivia could still be high-risk.

Additional screenings were ordered, and between an MRI, ultrasounds, and biopsies, Munn was diagnosed with the aggressive cancer luminal B in both breasts.

From there, Munn had multiple surgeries, including lymph node dissection, a nipple delay procedure (to spare the nipples), and a double mastectomy within 30 days, and later reconstruction.

Olivia recalled, “I had amazing doctors, but it was still a negotiation sometimes on what we are doing,” saying the nipple delay was optional. Olivia was ultimately “glad” she did it, saying, “I want to give myself the best shot of keeping the parts of me that I can keep.”

The 42-year-old further explained, “There’s so much information, and you’re making these huge decisions for the rest of your life. 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.”

Munn revealed that when she awoke from the operation bandaged up with expanders in place, she soon learned that doctors had found a “tangerine-sized” section ductal carcinoma in situ, a preinvasive cancer, on her right side.

The actress said, “Hearing that news gave me peace that I’d made the right decision.”

Seeing her body post-surgery left her stunned.

“I saw myself for the first time and I was in shock. It was incredibly hard… It was a shock. It was a shock to my system. I had such a hard time, I remember just looking in the mirror with [the doctor] and just having no emotion, just taking in what he was saying.”

When she got home, that’s when it really hit her. “I undressed and looked in the mirror again, and that’s when I just absolutely broke down,” she said.

As for reconstruction, Olivia waited and let her body heal.

Now, she tells People, “It's much better, but it's not the same, and that's okay.”

She shared, “I know a lot of women want to go bigger, but [I said], ‘Go smaller.’ 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 the aftermath of the surgeries, Olivia is undergoing hormone suppression therapy, which causes medically induced menopause. She said, “I’m constantly thinking it’s hot, my hair is thinning, and I’m tired a lot.”

Ultimately, Olivia says she is “grateful that I was given the opportunity to fight,” and says motherhood has helped her get through it.

“When I’m with him, it’s the only time my brain doesn’t think about being sick,” she said of Malcolm. “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.”

Olivia also praised John for his support, saying, “It would’ve felt like climbing an iceberg without him. 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.”