Over the past few days, Olivia Munn has shared several Instagram posts featuring her in glamorous outfits, attending the Oscars, Vanity Fair Party and more high-profile events. Then, this morning, she shared a different kind of post. Munn revealed she has been battling breast cancer. In her post, she shared that she was diagnosed in the spring of 2023 and has had four surgeries over the past 10 months.
Last winter Munn had taken a genetic test that checks for 90 different cancer genes—she tested negative for all. Around the same time, she also had a normal mammogram. She credits her OBGYN for catching the cancer early and saving her life.
“I wouldn’t have found my cancer for another year—at my next scheduled mammogram—except that my OBGYN, Dr. Thais Aliabadi, decided to calculate my Breast Cancer Risk Assessment Score. The fact that she did saved my life,” writes Munn. The doctor examined factors like age, familial breast cancer history and the fact that Munn had her first child after the age of 30. “She discovered my lifetime risk was at 37 percent. Because of that score, I was sent to get an MRI, which led to an ultrasound, which led to a biopsy. The biopsy showed I had Luminal B cancer in both breasts. Luminal B is an aggressive, fast-moving cancer.”
Following the biopsy, Munn had a double mastectomy and reconstruction. “I went from feeling completely fine one day to waking up in a hospital bed after a 10-hour surgery the next.” Munn wants her story to help other women, urging them to ask their doctor to calculate their Breast Cancer Risk Assessment Score. According to Dr. Aliabadi, if the number is greater than 20 percent, you should receive annual mammograms and breast MRIs starting at age 30.
