Actress Olivia Munn shares details of difficult, unexpected breast cancer journey

A well-known actress has gone public and shared highly personal details of a life-changing recent health ordeal.

Olivia Munn has stepped forward to tell the story of her unexpected breast cancer diagnosis and the profound realizations the experience has yielded, as Fox News reports.

Cancer was the last thing on Munn's mind last year before she received the startling news that she was, in fact, ill.

A mere three months prior to her diagnosis, Munn had tested negative for the BRCA cancer gene, telling People magazine, “I was walking around thinking that I had no breast cancer. I did all the tests that I knew about.”

However, in March of 2023, during a routine annual mammogram, Munn's physician inquired whether she had ever been made aware of her lifetime breast cancer risk score, a question she answered in the negative.

She then took advantage of a free online tool known as the Tyrer-Cuzick risk assessment calculator to measure her predisposition to the condition, which took into consideration her menstrual history and her family's breast cancer history, ultimately coming back with an alarming result of 37.3%.

An MRI was ordered, and it subsequently found a spot of concern that sat “just a hairline away from my lymph nodes,” Munn recalled.

After additional tumors were found and confirmed to be stage 1 invasive cancer, Munn knew that her life had forever changed dramatically.

“You realize cancer doesn't care who you are; it doesn't care if you have a baby or if you don't have time. It comes at you, and you have no choice but to face it head-on,” she said.

Munn observed, “There's so much information, and you're making these huge decisions for the rest of your life.”

The actress ultimately underwent four surgeries, one of which revealed a large area of “ductal carcinoma in situ” in one breast.

Referencing the double mastectomy she chose to have to dramatically reduce her risk of recurrences, Munn said of that new discovery of cancer, “Hearing that news gave me peace that I'd made the right decision.”

That is not to say that the adjustment to her new, post-surgical body was easy, as People explained, with Munn remembering, “I saw myself for the first time and I was in shock. It was incredibly hard” and noting, “I just thought, 'Oh my gosh, this is what I look like, and I don't want to look at myself right now.'”

Focusing on the positive, however, Munn said of her new reality, “But that's OK because I'm here,” assuring fans that her recovery and continued health are truly the best gifts she and her loved ones could have received.