Olivia Munn is ready to shine a light on her breast cancer journey. More than a month after first sharing her diagnosis with the world, the actress is opening up about her health and the lessons she’s learned thus far.
“I was not someone who obsessed over death or was afraid of it in any way, [but] having a little baby at home made everything much more terrifying,” Olivia, 43, shared with PEOPLE in an interview published Wednesday, April 17. “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.”
For Olivia, who shares 2-year-old son Malcolm with partner John Mulaney, learning she had breast cancer in 2023 was a surprise after she tested negative for the BRCA gene and received a clean mammogram result just three months prior.
With guidance from her ob-gyn, Dr. Thaïs Aliabadi, Olivia got an additional screening that revealed bilateral breast cancer.
“I was walking around thinking that I had no breast cancer,” she said. “I did all the tests that I knew about.”
Within 30 days of her diagnosis, The Newsroom star underwent a lymph node dissection, a nipple delay procedure and a double mastectomy.
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Olivia Munn is ready to shine a light on her breast cancer journey. More than a month after first sharing her diagnosis with the world, the actress is opening up about her health and the lessons she’s learned thus far.
“I was not someone who obsessed over death or was afraid of it in any way, [but] having a little baby at home made everything much more terrifying,” Olivia, 43, shared with PEOPLE in an interview published Wednesday, April 17. “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.”
For Olivia, who shares 2-year-old son Malcolm with partner John Mulaney, learning she had breast cancer in 2023 was a surprise after she tested negative for the BRCA gene and received a clean mammogram result just three months prior.
With guidance from her ob-gyn, Dr. Thaïs Aliabadi, Olivia got an additional screening that revealed bilateral breast cancer.
“I was walking around thinking that I had no breast cancer,” she said. “I did all the tests that I knew about.”
Within 30 days of her diagnosis, The Newsroom star underwent a lymph node dissection, a nipple delay procedure and a double mastectomy.
