Earlier this year, Olivia Munn revealed that she’d been diagnosed with breast cancer and had been undergoing treatment. Now, the actress has opened up about her journey and offered some details about how supportive her boyfriend, comedian John Mulaney — with whom she shares a 2-year-old son, Malcolm — has been through it all.
“It would’ve felt like climbing an iceberg without him,” Munn told PEOPLE. “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.”
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“When I’m with him, it’s the only time my brain doesn’t think about being sick,” she continued. “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.”
In March, Munn revealed that she’d been diagnosed with breast cancer, and took to Instagram to share that she was diagnosed in early 2023. She also shared photos of her journey, including numerous hospital stays.
“In the past ten months, I’ve had four surgeries,” Munn wrote in a post among a series of slides. “So many days spent in bed I can’t even count and learned more about cancer, cancer treatment and hormones than I could ever have imagined. Surprisingly, I 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 clear-headed.”
As part of her treatment, Munn then revealed that she had a double mastectomy, and credited her doctor with saving her life. She also expressed gratitude to Mulaney for his support through her experience.
“I’m so thankful for my friends and family for loving me through this,” she said. “I’m so thankful to John for the nights he spent researching what every operation and medication meant and what side effects and recovery I could expect. For being there before I went into each surgery and being there when I woke up, always placing framed photos of little boy Malcolm so it would be the first thing I saw when I opened my eyes.” Click here to read Munn’s full statement.