Olivia Munn made the difficult but necessary decision to have a hysterectomy in her push to fight against cancer and the health issues associated with it.
On Sunday, Vogue published a long interview with the 43-year-old actress. In it, she revealed the stunning news of having the hysterectomy done, and spoke about her decision to remove her uterus and other reproductive organs amid her brave battle against breast cancer.
Related: Olivia Munn Pens Message Of Support To Princess Catherine As They Both Face Cancer
The world already knew that she’d had a double mastectomy in the cancer battle, of course. But Sunday’s Vogue piece broke major news in that she revealed taking an “aggressive” approach with having the hysterectomy performed, too, in order to battle the aggressive cancer. She candidly explained:
“It was a big decision to make, but it was the best decision for me because I needed to be present for my family.”
Before having the surgery, John Mulaney‘s partner had been experiencing what she termed “debilitating exhaustion” from a medication that she was taking. The medicine was meant to suppress her estrogen levels and hopefully avoid a recurrence of cancer within her body by limiting the power of those hormones. But the unintended side effect was that it absolutely exhausted her. Speaking about it in regards to her and John’s son Malcolm, Olivia explained:
“I had friends try to cheer me up by saying, ‘Malcolm’s not going to remember this. Don’t worry.’ But I just kept thinking to myself, ‘I’m going to remember this, that I missed all these things.’ It’s his childhood, but it’s my motherhood, and I don’t want to miss any of these parts if I don’t have to.”
Unfortunately for the Newsroom star, the hysterectomy decision was necessary to get past those hurdles — but it also required a LOT from her emotionally. She admitted that the surgery caused her to have “a real breakdown,” and explained:
“It’s just so strange when you’ve been with this body your entire life, had your period for so long, feel when you’re ovulating, and all of a sudden it’s gone.”
No kidding…
But there is some good — and incredible — news here, too. Prior to the treatment, Olivia and her comedian partner made the decision to freeze her eggs in anticipation of possibly growing their family in the coming years. She noted:
“After my diagnosis, we decided to try one more round of egg retrievals and hoped it was a good month. John and I talked about it a lot, and we don’t feel like we’re done growing our family, but [we] didn’t know if I would have to do chemotherapy or radiation. We just wanted a few more eggs. At my age, one in every 10 eggs are healthy, and we were hoping to make one embryo from this retrieval.”
And even though Olivia had been prepared to go through the process several times, fortune smiled upon them immediately! After the very first attempt at creating embryos, doctors told the couple that they had two healthy ones. Amazing! The X-Men: Apocalypse star revealed:
“John and I just started crying. It was just so exciting because not only did we get it in one retrieval, but it also meant that I didn’t have to keep putting myself at risk. It was just amazing.”
FYI, Olivia and John haven’t yet made specific plans for having a second child — or if they have, they didn’t reveal them to Vogue in Sunday’s chat — but Munn did note that she is ready to work with a surrogate on the process. She told the fashion mag:
“With a surrogate, you have to try to go find a version of yourself somewhere out in the world. Somebody that you trust as much as yourself to live their life as a pregnant woman the same way that you would. But a surrogate isn’t a scary prospect to me anymore because there’s nothing I can do. I don’t have the ability to carry a baby anymore, so if we want to build our family, this is our option. This journey has made me realize how grateful I am to have options for not only fighting cancer but also having more children if we want, because I know a lot of people don’t have those options.”
Wow.
You can read the full Vogue interview HERE. Reactions, Perezcious readers? Share ’em (below).
[Image via MEGA/WENN/Olivia Munn/Instagram]
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