If John Mulaney was surprised his life has become tabloid fodder, he’ll probably be shocked to hear that people are poking holes in his relationship timeline with Olivia Munn.
As we previously reported, the comedian laid out the details of his tumultuous year on Late Night With Seth Meyers. That year included multiple relapses, multiple rehab stays, an apparent breakup with his ex-wife Anna Marie Tendler, an intervention, and the road to recovery, all leading up to finding new love and expecting a baby with Olivia.
Related: Remember When John Said He Didn’t EVER Want Kids?
Following the touching conversation with pal Seth Meyers, an NBC source told Page Six:
“We just all want John to be happy. Seth has been his biggest cheerleader, he gave him a job last year to keep an eye on him. He organized the intervention, there was something special about him announcing the pregnancy on his show.”
Other insiders, however, were a lot more skeptical about the Netflix star’s motives. One source, described as a “celebrity agent who has worked with Munn,” speculated:
“I don’t think it’s any coincidence that John broke the news of Olivia’s pregnancy the way he did in terms of basically giving a timeline of his past few months — when he moved out of his house, how it was the spring when he fell in love with Olivia. It seems to me that he is going to great lengths to dispute the idea that he cheated.”
Of the Newsroom actress, the agent added:
“She has a demonstrated history of hanging out with and spending time with SNL guys, so no way did their paths not cross, and there is the video of them together back in 2017.”
Another insider cast doubt on the story that the couple had met at church in LA, telling the outlet:
“That was BS, and Twitter immediately called Olivia out on it saying she’s known John for years. It isn’t entirely clear when their relationship started. There have been rumors for months about her being pregnant, and it all just seems like a very tight timeline.”
Page Six pointed out that the X-Men: Apocalypse star and the stand-up’s friends were all “talking openly about her pregnancy in July.” That in and of itself doesn’t necessarily arouse our suspicions — of course the expecting parents would share the news with their inner circle before the media. It may be a tight timeline, but there’s no smoking gun here to suggest John and Olivia started seeing each other BEFORE he got out of rehab in February 2021.
As to the fact that they actually did know each other before “meeting” in the spring, well, the Big Mouth voice actor acknowledged meeting her at Seth’s wedding in 2013. They were obviously acquaintances, but Olivia even admitted to being ghosted by him (via email) when she recalled the occasion in 2015. So we don’t think we’re dealing with some kind of long-con affair here.
Apparently, sources close to the 39-year-old’s ex “confirmed that Mulaney had actually asked her for a divorce in February and not after leaving his September through October rehab stint, as he said,” per Page Six. However, John only said he’d “moved out” in October, shortly before relapsing once again.
It sounds like they were separated for several months before making it official with the divorce, which is a pretty normal (though sad!) ending for a marriage. And when you consider that he was in the midst of another relapse before another rehab stay, it’s not entirely surprising that it took him a while to get around to actually asking for a divorce.
But back to the original question: maybe the SNL alum didn’t cheat with Olivia, but did he cheat at all? Well, there were definitely rumors going around about it post-divorce. A friend shared with Page Six:
“John really suffered through lockdown last year. Anna Marie moved to Washington, DC, to work at the Smithsonian on a project and he was back in NYC and out of control. He was DM’ing women on Instagram for hookups — whether he went through with anything, we don’t know — and by December he’d fallen off the wagon again and was abusing drugs and alcohol.”
They continued:
“This all followed a pattern — he and Anna Marie would break up and get back together again, he would get wasted and then he’d beg her to take him back. Sometimes, he told friends that he was so wasted that he had no recollection of even talking to these women.”
Related: Anna Marie Reportedly Entered Rehab At The Same Time John Did
Another Anna Marie insider claimed:
“Anna Marie knew he was doing things with other women before he went to rehab in December. And his claims to friends that he was trying to protect her before he went away to rehab were rubbish, she didn’t need protecting.”
They reflected:
“John was using Anna Marie to protect himself. But still, she was very heartbroken that he decided to end her marriage, she was heartbroken how it went down, it wasn’t something that she wanted, she wanted to work it out. I am sure this news about the pregnancy will be very difficult for her.”
The verdict, then? It’s definitely possible, and even likely, that John cheated, though the fact that Anna Marie’s friends admit they were in a pattern of breaking up and making up makes the timeline a little murky. (It’s even possible he cheated with Olivia, but there’s no solid evidence to back that up.) He was in the throes of addiction, and we doubt demanding a haircut from the SNL staff was the only questionable thing he did during that time.
Whatever the exact timeline of how things went down, clearly both John and Anna Marie went through a lot last year. We hope they’re both in a better place now.
[Image via Brian To/FayesVision/WENN]