Olivia Munn is opening up about her health journey in a new interview with Vogue.
The actress revealed that last month she had a hysterectomy following a previous breast cancer diagnosis.
“I have now had an oophorectomy and hysterectomy,” she shared. “I took out my uterus, fallopian tubes, and ovaries.”
Munn was diagnosed with luminal b breast cancer last year, which grows with the presence of estrogen.
Olivia Munn on Facing ‘Terrifying’ Breast Cancer Diagnosis
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In addition to a double mastectomy and other surgeries, doctors sought to suppress Olivia’s estrogen as a preventative measure with the help of a drug called Lupron. Unfortunately it zapped her of all energy too.
Munn called the hysterectomy “a big decision,” but one she needed to be present for her young son Malcolm, 2.
“I had friends try to cheer me up by saying, ‘Malcolm’s not going to remember this. Don’t worry.’ But I just kept thinking to myself, ‘I’m going to remember this, that I missed all these things.’ It’s his childhood, but it’s my motherhood, and I don’t want to miss any of these parts if I don’t have to,” she explained.
Afterward, Olivia was feeling much better, but struggled in the aftermath.
She had “a real breakdown,” explaining, “it’s just so strange when you’ve been with this body your entire life, had your period for so long, feel when you’re ovulating, and all of a sudden it’s gone.”
Olivia also talked about having more kids with her partner John Mulaney, sharing that she has did egg retrievals at 33, 39 and 42.
Olivia Munn Reveals Breast Cancer Diagnosis & Double Mastectomy
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“It’s interesting because my 33-year-old eggs were great. My 39-year-old eggs? None of them worked. As you get older, one month can have great eggs, the other not so much,” she said. “Clearly, the month we did at 39 was not a good month. After my diagnosis, we decided to try one more round of egg retrievals and hoped it was a good month. John and I talked about it a lot and we don’t feel like we’re done growing our family, but didn’t know if I would have to do chemotherapy or radiation.”
Her most recent egg retrieval required a special cancer protocol, but it was a success and Olivia and John were able to create two healthy embryos.
When they heard the news, she said, “John and I just started crying. It was just so exciting because not only did we get it in one retrieval, but it also meant that I didn’t have to keep putting myself at risk. It was just amazing.”
Opening up about the idea of surrogacy, she said, “When you’re pregnant with your own baby, it’s like teamwork—you and the baby working together to make their little life come true. You’re doing all this work to eat well, try to not have anxiety, just do all the right things during the pregnancy. With a surrogate, you have to try to go find a version of yourself somewhere out in the world. Somebody that you trust as much as yourself to live their life as a pregnant woman the same way that you would. But a surrogate isn’t a scary prospect to me anymore because there’s nothing I can do. I don’t have the ability to carry a baby anymore, so if we want to build our family, this is our option. This journey has made me realize how grateful I am to have options for not only fighting cancer, but also having more children if we want, because I know a lot of people don’t have those options.”
