Olivia Munn has revealed she decided to undergo a “risky” egg retrieval amid her “grueling” battle with cancer because she and her partner John Mulaney are desperate to have “one more baby”.
Olivia, 43, who is already mother to her two-year-old son Malcolm, revealed in early March this year that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer in April 2023 and had undergone four surgeries, including a mastectomy double, and that the treatment will lead to medically induced menopause.
In an exclusive interview with Good Morning America’s Michael Strahan, the X-Men: Apocalypse actress confirmed that she made the decision to undergo a round of egg retrieval because she and John, 41, “were not done growing our family”. ‘
‘John and I talked about it. Immediately after the double mastectomy I underwent a round of egg retrieval. “It’s scary because I have a cancer that feeds on hormones, so I knew there was a risk,” Olivia told Michael, whose daughter Isabella was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer in October 2023.
Olivia Munn shared a health update amid her ‘grueling’ battle with cancer in an exclusive interview with Good Morning America.
Olivia and her partner John Mulaney, parents of their two-year-old son Malcolm, are desperate to have “one more baby.”
Since being diagnosed with breast cancer in 2023, the actress has undergone four surgeries, including a double mastectomy.
‘Our doctor said, “look, we’re going to get you one and then we’ll call him.” Then he called the doctor and said, “Hey, we have the results, they are two healthy embryos.” We both started crying.
‘I really just hope it turns out well for us to have another baby. We just want one more. I won’t ask for much more in this life, I promise. I just want one more baby,’ Olivia explained.
Referring to the treatment, the mother of one continued: ‘Hormonal suppression therapy is brutal. It gave me next level debilitating exhaustion, I was in bed all day, all day. My quality of life was minimal. I couldn’t be present for my baby.’
When Michael asked if Malcolm had “noticed a change” in his mother, Olivia replied: “Yes.” I mean, every time Malcolm came home, he would run to my bed because that’s where he knows I am.
‘That’s what he associated with me, that was too hard for me to accept. I had to find out if there was another option so I opted to do the hysterectomy with the oophorectomy. Almost immediately afterward my energy came back in full force,” he added.
Olivia began dating comedian John in 2021 and the couple welcomed Malcolm on November 24 of that same year.
When asked how he had supported her during her diagnosis, Olivia revealed: “Honestly, he is the best human being. He comes to everything in life with so much compassion and understanding.
“But the only problem with that is that it makes me laugh so much that I’m like, ‘Sometimes you have to leave the room, this is crazy.’ I just say, ‘Get out of the room, you have to leave.’ Now you’re going to make me angry. “I’m literally going to pop a stitch, it’s going to hurt!” she laughed.
Olivia said she decided to document her cancer journey online because she wants her son to know that she “fought to be here.”
Explaining what she has learned about herself since her diagnosis, Olivia said: ‘I have learned that I am much braver than I thought.
‘I learned that the most important thing for me in life is my family, everything else can disappear. “I don’t have my career, I don’t have my body the way it was before, but as long as the people I love and care about are here, healthy and thriving, nothing else matters,” she added.