Olivia Munn underwent a double mastectomy after being diagnosed with breast cancer
Actress Olivia Munn said Wednesday that she was diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer last year and shortly after underwent a double mastectomy as part of her treatment.
Munn, 43, who has starred in dozens of films and TV shows, including the HBO series ‘The Newsroom’ wrote in a lengthy social media post that she had tried to be proactive about her health.
In February 2023, not long after having a normal mammogram, Munn took a robust genetic test that checked for 90 cancer genes. She said she tested negative for all of them, including BRCA, the best-known gene for breast cancer. Her sister also tested negative around the same time.
“We called each other and high-fived each other over the phone,” Munn wrote.
Two months later, Munn learned she had luminal B, a form of breast cancer. A month later she underwent the double mastectomy.
“In the past ten months, I’ve had four surgeries, spent so many days in bed I can’t even count, and learned more about cancer, cancer, treatment, and hormones than I ever could have imagined,” she wrote. “Surprisingly, I only cried twice. I don’t think I felt like there was time to cry.
Munn’s post was in large part a plea to women to ask their doctors to calculate their breast cancer risk assessment score. That her obstetrician-gynecologist did this helped identify Munn’s cancer early.
“The fact that she did that saved my life,” Munn wrote.
The risk assessment includes factors such as family history and age of breast cancer; Munn said in her post that having her first child over 30 was a factor. Munn has been in a relationship with comedian John Mulaney since 2021 and they have a 2-year-old son, Malcolm, together.
The results of Munn’s risk assessment prompted her doctor to send her for an MRI, which led to an ultrasound. That led to a biopsy that revealed the cancer.
In her post, Munn thanked her doctors as well as her friends and family. She thanked Mulaney for researching all of her surgeries and medications for information on side effects and recovery.
Over the past year, Munn’s social media has shown many happy moments, but also many glamorous ones, including family photos on the beach and others from Munn in designer looks. This weekend she shared Pictures which showed her wearing a metallic Fendi dress to the Oscars, where Mulaney presented an award.
“I tend to let people see me when I have energy, when I can get dressed and leave the house, when I can take my son to the park,” she wrote.
“I kept the diagnosis and the worries and the recovery and the pain meds and the paper coats private. I had to catch my breath and get through some of the hardest parts before I could share it.