If you’ve ever felt like postpartum hit you like a tornado, Olivia Munn wants you to know you’re not alone.
In a recent interview with SELF, the actress and mom of two got raw about just how brutal postpartum anxiety was for her—and how, in many ways, it was more devastating than her recent battle with breast cancer.
“When you stop breastfeeding immediately, your hormones drop, and postpartum can come in like a tornado,” Munn shared. “And I didn’t clock any of that and I didn’t tell anybody about that. Then it was like I fell off a cliff, and I was just falling and falling and falling and falling. It was more difficult than going through cancer.”
Let that sink in.
Postpartum hit harder than cancer
Munn, now 44, gave birth to her son Malcolm in 2021, and later welcomed daughter Méi via surrogate in 2024 after undergoing multiple surgeries for breast cancer, including a double mastectomy and oophorectomy. She spoke candidly about how the mental toll of postpartum took her by surprise—even after everything her body had already endured.
“I was operating normally, but I was feeling very depressed,” she recalled. “It kicked into high gear when I hadn’t lost the baby weight, and nothing was fitting, and I would see people on social media, people I knew had babies around the same time. I reached out to some of them. And I’m like, ‘How are you in these Valentino shorts and this crop top just running around LA and having the energy to take all these beautiful pictures?’”
“I didn’t even have the ability to fake it. I didn’t have the energy to fake anything they were faking.”
Related: Olivia Munn on battling breast cancer as a mom of 2: ‘A lot of guilt’
The anxiety no one warned her about
As moms, we often get told that the “baby blues” are normal. But anxiety that jolts you awake at 4 a.m., chest tight and unable to breathe? That’s not something most of us are warned about.
“My eyes pop open at 4 a.m. I’m gasping for air. I get the tightness in my chest, and it’s like that all day long. It felt like the end of the world…. It was like when you watch a horror movie—the worst, scariest horror movie you can think of—that’s how my body felt,” Munn explained. “I would have to sometimes hold John’s arm from room to room. It was physical, almost as if I had sprained my knee.”
The silent grief of breastfeeding struggles
One of the many things she also struggled with? Breastfeeding—and the shame that came with not being able to produce enough milk.
“I could not make any breast milk,” she said. “I think [that] kicked off the anxiety. I saw—I’m telling you—three lactation coaches. I did the vitamins, the water, the heating…. It would take me all day long to fill up just one bottle.”
“I remember my mom was visiting. [I had left a bottle of] breast milk on the counter. I go in and I’m like, ‘Where’s the breast milk I left?’ And she goes, ‘Where was it?’ I said, ‘It was right here.’ She goes, ‘Oh, I cleaned up everything and I threw it away.’ I cried so hard. I was so mad and upset.”
The vulnerability in Munn’s story is something so many of us can see ourselves in. That feeling of trying to do everything “right,” and still feeling like you’re unraveling.
A story she plans to share with her daughter
And she’s not exaggerating when she says it was harder than cancer. Munn’s breast cancer diagnosis came just as she was emerging from the worst of her postpartum experience. Between 2023 and 2024, she underwent five major surgeries—including a double mastectomy, reconstruction, and hysterectomy—all while raising a toddler and preparing for the arrival of her daughter.
Still, she describes the psychological toll of postpartum as uniquely isolating.
“When the depression or the anxiety takes over you so much, it’s almost like you won’t take the things that will help you.”
That sense of being in survival mode—of holding the door closed against a monster, as Munn described it—is heartbreakingly familiar to moms struggling in silence.
“I felt like I had one hand on a door with a monster trying to break in, and I was just holding it there the whole time…. Just at any second, it’s going to burst through.”
Even now, technically cancer-free but still in treatment and surgical menopause, Munn is navigating all of this with her signature blend of honesty and dry humor. She talks about visible implant ripples, thinning lashes, and the challenge of feeling like a stranger in her own body. And yet, when she says “we” in reference to her treatment journey with partner John Mulaney, it’s clear that this is a shared road paved with patience, love, and teamwork.
“We tried two more medications and now we’re on one that thankfully is working.”
It’s no surprise Munn plans to tell her daughter all about the surrogate who carried her—and how deeply personal the decision was.
“I needed [her] to understand that I needed to go this route… It wasn’t for superficial reasons or because I wanted to put my work first. I’m not saying that any of those reasons aren’t valid for those people… but I needed her to understand this would be hard for me.
As we watch Munn re-emerge onscreen in her new Apple TV show Your Friends & Neighbors, there’s something deeply powerful in how she’s owning her story, scars and all.
“Now I view the scars on my body as battle wounds. I fought to be here and they’re proof of that.”
Postpartum anxiety. Cancer. Menopause. Motherhood. Munn’s story reminds us that we are so much more than the things that happen to us. We’re the ones who survive them.
And sometimes survival looks like crying over spilled milk. Sometimes it looks like a nap on the sofa while someone else holds the baby. Sometimes it looks like climbing 130 steps back up from the beach, stopping halfway to say:
“First, head above water. Second, get back to shore. Third, find my loved ones.”
We’re with you, Olivia.
If you’re struggling with postpartum anxiety or depression, you are not alone—and help is available. Call or text the Postpartum Support International Helpline at 1-800-944-4773, or visit postpartum.net for resources, support groups, and ways to get connected.
Related: “It’s so scary”: Meghan Markle shares her postpartum preeclampsia story—and the pressure to show up anyway