Mila Kunis opens up about childhood move from Ukraine to New York - and why she hates pizza

Mila Kunis has opened up about her family’s move from Ukraine to the United States when she was just seven years old, and why she now hates pizza as a result.

The Black Swan actor, 39, made an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Wednesday evening, where she spoke about her brief stay in New York City after she left her home of Chernivtsi in southwestern Ukraine.

“I was born in Ukraine but when I came to the states, I came through New York,” she said, with cheers from the audience. This week, New York-native Jimmy Kimmel returned to his hometown to host a series of shows at the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Howard Gilman Opera House.

“Except, I think it was, like, Queens,” Kunis continued. “And then you’re put up in a hotel to go through your medical checks to make sure you can be entered into the country. But it’s next to a cemetery, this is what I remember.”

While the Friends With Benefits star could only recall a cemetery across the street from the “weird” hotel she was in with her family, she did remember that it was the first time she ever had a burger and Coca-Cola soda.

“What I recall is a cemetery across the street and this weird hotel that I was in, but I did have a burger for the first time in New york and a Coca-Cola,” she said.

Kimmel noted that Kunis had a “pretty great memory”, before asking whether she had pizza for the first time in New York as well.

“Are you ready?” Kunis said, anticipating boos from the crowd of New Yorkers in the audience. “No.”

Kunis was then teased by the audience for her opinions on pizza, but tried to make up for it by sharing that her father worked as a Dominos Pizza delivery man when they moved to Los Angeles. However, that only elicited more boos from the audience, who suggested that New York pizza is superior to the pies in Los Angeles.

The That 70’s Show alum went on to say that due to her father’s job, she grew to hate pizza because it was all her family ate at the time.

“I had it every day for a year, possibly more,” she explained. “It was too much. Because we were so poor, my dad would make us pizza for dinner, and he tried really hard to get creative but you can only be so creative.”

“My brother came out of it loving pizza and my mom and I to this day are like, ‘Ugh, pizza,’” she added. “I’ll choke it down because my kids like pizza, my husband likes pizza, but I’m never the person that goes, ‘You know what I feel like? Pizza.’”

However, Kunis’ husband and notorious prankster, Ashton Kutcher, decided to give his wife a pizza oven for their anniversary. “But here’s the irony, guys. My husband for our anniversary got me a pizza oven,” she said, laughing. “Now not only do I not like pizza, I make them!”

Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher were married in 2015 and share two children – Wyatt, seven, and Dimitri, five. Earlier this year, the couple raised nearly $35m for Ukrainian refugees amid Russia’s ongoing invasion of the country.

Because of her humanitarian efforts, Mila Kunis was recently included on Time magazine’s list of 100 most influential people of 2022.