Olivia Munn says she discovered self-kindness after breast cancer diagnosis

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US actress Olivia Munn has revealed that her breast cancer diagnosis prompted a profound shift in her perspective, leading her to be "a lot more forgiving and kinder to myself".

The 45-year-old X-Men star has been remarkably open about her battle with the disease since her diagnosis in 2023, undergoing four operations, including a double mastectomy. She has since become a prominent advocate, collaborating with organisations like the Prevent Cancer Foundation, and notably helped her mother, Kim, discover her own breast cancer diagnosis.

Speaking on ITV’s This Morning, Munn elaborated on how her health crisis reshaped her outlook on life. "I used to be really hard on myself, you know, being in the public eye we all know people say a lot of things, and sometimes it’s not kind," she explained. "People would ask me, ‘how do you handle that?’ and I’m like, ‘well, what I would say to myself was harder’. The internal thoughts were much more difficult to deal with."

She described an intuitive shedding of emotional burdens post-diagnosis. "As soon as I was diagnosed – and I didn’t know I did this until months later, when I look back – but I just dropped all that baggage," Munn said. "I was looking at this mountain, this Everest that I had to climb, and I just intuitively knew I couldn’t do that without extra baggage. When I got to a place where I could assess everything, I looked down and I could see that baggage and I thought, ‘I don’t want to pick that back up’." This experience, she added, has allowed her to live "a lot more forgiving of myself and and kinder to myself."

Munn, who shares two children with comedian John Mulaney, also reflected on her tendency to focus on the future. "I’m always looking into the future. And I realised that I was just missing so much of my present life by doing that," she noted. "Having small children, I started thinking about if I’m lucky enough to live to 80 or 90, I would do anything to get back to this age."

She continued: "I said to my husband just a few days ago, when we’re 80 or 90 and we’re looking back on our life, these are the moments we’ll come back to. These are the memories that we will hold on to and will reminisce about. I want to be here, and I don’t want them to just be memories in the future. I want to feel them now. That really grounds me and brings me back."

Olivia Munn says her husband, John Mulaney, used humor to help her deal with her breast cancer diagnosis in 2023 (AFP/Getty)

Recalling the period leading up to her diagnosis, Munn shared her struggle with postpartum anxiety after her first child. "I had my first child, and then had horrible postpartum anxiety, which really surprised me because, as a woman, I’d been prepared for postpartum depression. Everybody talked about that," she explained. "But I was not even prepared for postpartum anxiety. I didn’t even know what it was for the first couple months it was happening. So that lasted like a year, and as soon as I came out of that fog, I was diagnosed with breast cancer."

The actress discovered her cancer after a clear mammogram, but a genetic risk assessment test prompted her to request an MRI, which ultimately revealed a tumour in her right breast. "That test, the lifetime risk assessment test, saved my life without a doubt," she affirmed.

Her personal experience then extended to her family. "About a year after that, my mother had a clear mammogram and a clear ultrasound, but because I knew about this test I had my mother get her score," Munn recounted. "She went to get an MRI, and then she was diagnosed with breast cancer herself – but hers is even more aggressive." Her mother also underwent treatment, including a double mastectomy.

Munn is now a vocal proponent for women to undergo lifetime risk assessment tests. "The main goal is to… you know, we as women, or as everybody, we go into the doctor’s office. They get our our blood pressure, they get our cholesterol," she stated. "I think that every doctor should be asking every woman, what is your lifetime risk assessment?"