The 'Newsroom' actress shares her emotional journey of battling breast cancer, undergoing a double mastectomy, and coming to terms with her body post-reconstruction, offering hope and inspiration to others facing similar challenges.
- Jun 4, 2024
AceShowbiz - Olivia Munn, the 43-year-old actress best known for her roles in "The Newsroom" and other major Hollywood productions, is opening up about her breast reconstruction surgery following a double mastectomy. In a candid discussion on the latest episode of the "SHE MD" podcast, Munn delved into the emotional and physical challenges she faced after her diagnosis of luminal B breast cancer.
Munn, who has a 2-year-old son named Malcolm with her boyfriend John Mulaney, explained the difficulties of coming to terms with her new breasts. She shared that due to significant tissue loss, she had to receive larger implants, which led to an appearance she hadn't anticipated. "I didn't want to have big breasts. I didn't want them to look like a boob job," Munn recalled. "All I care about is that I'm alive and I'm here for my baby."
Despite her resolve to stay positive, Munn described a profound sense of devastation upon seeing her new body for the first time. "I was by myself in my bathroom, and I looked at them and I cried in a way that I don't think I've ever cried in my life," she shared. "I didn't recognize myself."
The actress also revealed that the surgery left the area under her chest "really flat," pushing her to grow out her hair to hide the scars. "I want to be able to hide the sides of the implant and feel comfortable like that. Maybe one day I'll get more comfortable with it," she admitted.
Munn credits Dr. Thaïs Aliabadi, a world-renowned OBGYN, for saving her life by recommending an MRI based on her Breast Cancer Risk Assessment Score. This led to her diagnosis and subsequent treatments, which included hormone suppression therapy causing medically induced menopause. Despite these hardships, Munn remains hopeful about expanding her family, having frozen her eggs to possibly have another child in the future.
As an advocate for breast cancer awareness, Munn emphasized the importance of self-advocacy and frequent screenings. She highlighted the free, online Tyrer-Cuzick score, which helped save her life. "You hear everybody say, 'You've got to be your own advocate.' But I think what's really difficult about that is when you're not a doctor yourself," she said.
Munn's story is not just about personal struggle, but also about resilience and the importance of family. "The most important thing to me in life is my family," she stated. "Everything else can go away. I don't have my career, I don't have my body the way that it looked before, but as long as the people I love and care about are here and healthy and thriving, nothing else matters."
Through her openness, Munn hopes to inspire other cancer survivors and remind them of their strength and resilience. "It's a very profound journey to find out how much strength and resilience I have. It's more than I thought I had," she reflected.
