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Olivia Munn is sharing more about her journey to recovery after being diagnosed with cancer in 2023, opening up about how she attempted to hide her "battle wounds" before she was ready to announce her diagnosis.
In a new cover story with People, the X-Men: Apocalypse actress spoke about attempting to hide the "battle wounds" she received after undergoing a double mastectomy following her breast cancer diagnosis in April 2023 and the subsequent reconstruction.
"I have some divots and dents on one side of my body near where the lymph nodes were, and they had to really dig out," she said. "And I've been wearing some dresses on the red carpet that made me a little stressed out at times."
Munn attended both the 2024 Oscars and Vanity Fair Oscars party earlier this year alongside her partner John Mulaney, wearing form-fitting gowns that posed a challenge in fully hiding the results of her multiple surgeries. Her makeup artist, Diane Buzzetta, even "learned how to do tattoo-type makeup" to help with coverups.
"We're trying to really cheat where the dents are and how to make it really smooth and cover up everything, so that I could wear it," she said. "It's not something I can do by myself, but knowing that there's that option for when I'm in front of the camera has made me feel a lot better about things. And then personally, the people in my life who see it don't see them as imperfections. So, that's a good feeling, too."
The Newsroom actress also revealed that she grew her hair out in order to cover her scars, which she admits she occasionally feels sad about.
"Sometimes it makes me a little sad that I still want to hide certain aspects. But then I remind myself that those are battle wounds and I can show them what I want and I can hide them when I want," Munn said. She also knows that her health journey can cause some complicated emotions and she allows herself the space to feel however she feels. "I don't beat myself up for anything I'm feeling on any given day, I just let myself feel it. There's a really nice peace that comes with that."
Munn, who revealed her diagnosis in a social media post in March 2024, also detailed "one of the hardest things" of her cancer journey, and it involves her and Mulaney's 2-year-old son Malcom.