Olivia Munn got real about a secret health battle she has been going through since last year.
In a post on Instagram on Wednesday, the 43-year-old actress revealed she was diagnosed with breast cancer in April of 2023. According to Olivia, she decided to “be more proactive about” her health and take a genetic test for “90 cancer genes” in February of that same year. She also had a mammogram. Everything came back negative — including her test for the BRCA gene, the most well-known breast cancer gene. Olivia and her sister, who also got tested and her results were negative, celebrated the happy news over the phone.
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However, their celebration sadly came to an end two months later. Olivia received the bad news that she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Since then, she has had “four surgeries, so many days spent in bed I can’t even count and have learned more about cancer, cancer treatment and hormones than I could ever have imagined.” Oof. The Magic Mike star continued:
“Surprisingly, I’ve only cried twice. I guess I haven’t felt like there was time to cry. My focus narrowed and I tabled my emotions that I felt would interfere with my ability to stay clearheaded. I’ve tended to let people see me when I have energy, when I can get dressed and get out of the house, when I can take my baby boy to the park. I’ve kept the diagnosis and the worry and the recovery and the pain medicine and the paper gowns private. I needed to catch my breath and get through some of the hardest parts before sharing.”
It is understandable she wanted to keep this private! This is not an easy thing to go through! Olivia went on to thank her doctor for deciding to calculate her Breast Cancer Risk Assessment Score just in case — despite all of her tests coming back negative. As she explained:
“The fact she did saved my life.”
Wow! The results of that assessment came back saying her lifetime risk of having cancer was at 37 percent, which led her doctor to make the Newsroom alum get an MRI, an ultrasound, and a biopsy. That is when Olivia discovered she had Luminal B cancer in both breasts, which is an “aggressive, fast moving cancer.” She then had a double mastectomy 30 days later:
“I went from feeling completely fine one day, to waking up in a hospital bed after a 10-hour surgery the next. I’m lucky. We caught it with enough time that I had options. I want the same for any woman who might have to face this one day.”
With that in mind, Olivia urged everyone to ask their doctors to calculate their Breast Cancer Risk Assessment Score as well. She also pushed for other women to get their annual mammograms and breast MRIs. Concluding her post, the momma thanked her friends, family, and partner John Mulaney for their support throughout her breast cancer journey:
“I’m so thankful to my friends and family for loving me through this. 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 our little boy Malcolm so it would be the first thing I saw when I opened my eyes. Thank you to the friends who’ve had breast cancer and the friends who connected me to friends who have had breast cancer for guiding me through some of my most uncertain and overwhelming months.”
Olivia even expressed her gratitude to all of her physicians and the staff at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles and Providence Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica. And, of course, she gave a shout-out to her OBGYN and “guardian angel,” Dr. Thais Aliabadi. Read the entire post (below):
We are sending SO much love and strength to Olivia amid her health battle! No doubt her story will help and be an inspiration to anyone else facing this. Reactions, Perezcious readers? Let us know in the comments below.
[Image via GQ/YouTube, Olivia Munn/Instagram]
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