Olivia Munn Says She Was 'Devastated' Over Her Breast Reconstruction Surgery: 'I Didn't Recognize Myself'
“I looked at them and I cried in a way that I don't think I've ever cried in my life," the actress recalled
Olivia Munn revealed in March that she had been diagnosed with bilateral breast cancer and had undergone a double mastectomy
The actress said she cried after seeing the results of her breast reconstruction surgery because she “didn’t recognize” herself
Munn said she’s working on feeling more comfortable with her new appearance
Olivia Munn admitted that she was “devastated” over the results of her breast reconstruction surgery.
During the June 4 episode of the health and wellness podcast, SheMD with Dr. Thaïs Aliabadi and Mary Alice Haney, the 43-year-old actress opened up about undergoing a double mastectomy and breast reconstruction after being diagnosed with breast cancer.
Munn explained that she initially felt uneasy about the reconstruction after her doctor said that since she lost so much breast tissue during her double mastectomy, she needed "a larger implant just to fill the skin."
"I didn't want to have big breasts. I didn't want them to look like a boob job. [The surgeon] was just very clear, [and told me,] 'It's going to look like that,'" she recalled. "All I care about is that I'm alive and I'm here for my baby. But putting that to the side, I'm like, one day people will forget or not know that I had cancer, but they'll look at me and go, 'Oh, what a bad boob job.'"
Olivia Munn/Instagram
Olivia MunnRelated: Olivia Munn Is 'Grateful' for Support After Breast Cancer Diagnosis: 'Meant a Lot to Me'
Despite her doctor's analysis that the results of the surgery were “fantastic,” Munn said she just cried the first time she saw her breasts, noting that she wanted a “small and chic” look with her implants.
"I was by myself in my bathroom, and I looked at them and I cried in a way that I don't think I've ever cried in my life," she said. "I was devastated. I didn't recognize myself. I didn't know how I would ever dress myself again. I thought, 'Oh, there are so many styles, so many things that I'll never be able to wear.' It just looked like someone took off my breasts and then took some tape and paper and stuff and Tupperware, and they're like, 'Here.'"
Although she felt “much better” about the results as time went on, Munn admitted on the show that she’s still self conscious about how her breasts look, which is "a big reason" why she grew her hair out.
"I wanted to be able to hide the scars," the star said. "I want to be able to hide the sides of the implant and feel comfortable like that.”
“Maybe one day I'll get more comfortable with it," she added. “I don’t look the same, but that’s okay. I’m here.”
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Munn first revealed her breast cancer diagnosis in March 2024.
The diagnosis came as a shock to the actress because her annual mammogram just three months prior had come back clear, and Munn had recently tested negative for the BRCA cancer gene. “I was walking around thinking that I had no breast cancer,” she told PEOPLE at the time. “I did all the tests that I knew about.”
Within 30 days, Munn underwent a lymph node dissection, a nipple delay procedure (a surgical procedure which spares the nipples) and a double mastectomy, followed by reconstructive surgery last fall.
Munn's lifesaving diagnosis was due to her ob-gyn’s decision to calculate her lifetime breast cancer risk score during a routine Pap smear using a free online tool called a Tyrer-Cuzick risk assessment calculator. Within minutes, Munn's results came back showing she was at high risk for breast cancer, prompting her doctor to order a MRI.
Today Munn is determined to raise awareness for other women at risk, crediting her ob-gyn's decision to calculate her lifetime cancer risk as the one that saved her life. “If it wasn’t for Dr. Aliabadi, I’d still be going through life not knowing that I had breast cancer,” she told PEOPLE.
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