Olivia Munn reveals mom has breast cancer 2 years after her own diagnosis

Two years after Olivia Munn was diagnosed with Luminal B breast cancer, the actress is sharing that her mother was recently diagnosed with, and underwent treatment for, breast cancer.

The Newsroom actress, 45, revealed in a Wednesday Instagram post that after she received her own diagnosis in 2023, she urged her mom, Kim Munn, to take the Tyrer­-Cuzick breast cancer risk assessment. It’s the same test that Munn’s doctor encouraged her to take, which estimates a woman’s risk of developing invasive breast cancer within the next 10 years and within her lifetime

“I never would’ve predicted it would save my mom’s life as well,” Munn captioned the post, in which she explained that she insisted her mom get an MRI after scoring 26.2% on the test, despite having a clear mammogram.

“Shortly after, my mother was diagnosed with stage 1 Her2 breast cancer. She has since completed 12 rounds of chemo and will continue monthly Herceptin transfusions until this fall,” Munn wrote.

According to the Cleveland Clinic, Her2 breast cancer is a fast-growing and invasive form of the disease.

Munn continued, “From my mom being there after my double mastectomy to me being there after hers. From me having to find an oncologist, to my mom and I sharing one. I can tell you this: going through cancer is really hard. But there’s something about watching a loved one go through it that is even more heartbreaking.”

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The Your Friends & Neighbors actress shared how she and her mom’s husband, Sam, learned “everything” they could about Kim’s diagnosis and her treatments, including “chemotherapy, immunotherapy, cold caps.” The post includes several photos and videos taken throughout her mother’s treatment journey, including a clip of Kim ringing the bell to indicate she finished her last round of chemo, cheering with hospital staff holding up signs.

“I spent many nights taking care of my mom when the chemo became too much, wishing I could fight the fight for her, even if only for a day to give her a little break,” Munn continued. “It’s no small feat to realize you can’t do it for them. To anyone out there who is taking care of someone or has made it their profession to do so, thank you. These gifts can feel near impossible without you.”

Munn, who shares son Malcolm Hiệp and daughter Méi June with husband John Mulaney, has undergone several surgeries since her diagnosis in 2023, including a double mastectomy, oophorectomy, and hysterectomy. She stressed the importance of taking the breast cancer risk assessment test, noting that it “saved my life and now my mom’s.”

“We’re taught about our periods, yearly Pap smears and mammograms at 40. And we now need every gynecologist to incorporate the lifetime risk rest into their care plan,” she wrote. “All of these things matter, you can’t leave one off. My mom wanted me to tell you that she hopes by sharing her story it will help save someone’s life.”

She gushed about her pride in her mom, writing, “She’s handled all of this with bravery and humor while still driving us crazy (just says after her double mastectomy she tried to do laundry and make dinner – she’s insane.)”

Munn then ended the post by thanking everyone who was a part of her mother’s medical team.

Munn opened up about her private battle with breast cancer last March. The actress explained that the diagnosis came as a shock, despite her personal decision to get tested for cancer.

“In February of 2023, in an effort to be more proactive about my health, I took a genetic test that checks you for 90 cancer genes. I tested negative for all, including BRCA (the most well-known breast cancer gene),” she wrote in the Instagram post sharing her experience. “My sister Sara had just tested negative as well. We called each other and high-fived over the phone. The same winter I also had a negative mammogram. Two months later I was diagnosed with breast cancer.”

The X-Men: Apocalypse shared that it was at a regularly scheduled appointment where her OBGYN decided to calculate her Breast Cancer Risk Assessment Score. “The fact that she did saved my life,” she wrote at the time. “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.”

In May of that year, Munn revealed in a Vogue profile that she had a full hysterectomy after suffering from side effects from the estrogen-suppressing drug Lupron.

Before the procedure, the actress froze her eggs for a third time; she’d previously frozen her eggs when she was 33 and 39. Several months later, she and Mulaney welcomed their daughter via gestational surrogate on Sep. 14, 2024.

“I had so many profound emotions about not being able to carry my daughter,” Munn wrote in an Instagram post at the time. “When I first met our gestational surrogate we spoke mother to mother. She showed me so much grace and understanding, I knew I had found a real-life angel. Words cannot express my gratitude that she kept our baby safe for 9 months and made our dreams come true.”