Olivia Munn shares she had double mastectomy. Here are other stars who had the surgery

Actress Olivia Munn, known for her roles in “The Newsroom” “X-Men: Apocalypse” and others, announced she was diagnosed with breast cancer and is recovering from major surgery in a March 13 Instagram post.

“In the past ten months I have had four surgeries, so many days spent in bed I can’t even count and have learned more about cancer, cancer treatment and hormones than I ever could have imagined,” Munn wrote in the post. “I’ve kept the diagnosis and the worry and the recovery and the pain medicine and the paper gowns private. I needed to catch my breath and get through some of the hardest parts before sharing.”

Munn said she took a genetic test in February 2023 to check for cancer genes “in an effort to be proactive about my health” and tested negative for all 90 genes included in the test.

Notably, she tested negative for the BRCA gene mutation, which is commonly used as a predictor of breast cancer risk.

“My sister Sara had just tested negative as well. We called each other and high-fived over the phone. That same winter I also had a normal mammogram,” Munn wrote. “Two months later I was diagnosed with breast cancer.”

Munn said a biopsy revealed she had Luminal B cancer in both breasts and described it as “an aggressive, fast moving cancer.”

Just 30 days later, Munn made the decision to undergo a double mastectomy, a 10-hour procedure that removes the breast tissue in an effort to prevent the growth and spread of breast cancer cells.

The surgery is invasive and significant, according to The Cancer Center, and sometimes includes the lymph nodes in the armpit and part of the pectoral muscles in the chest.

Munn thanked everyone who “(loved) me through this,” in the post, including friends and friends of friends who had undergone similar treatment.

Other female figures in Hollywood have been open about their own experience with a double mastectomy, whether as a response to a breast cancer diagnosis or as a preventative measure.

Here is who else has had the surgery.

Angelina Jolie

In 2013, the actress wrote an opinion piece in The New York Times sharing her decision to have a double mastectomy after her mother died of breast cancer.

Jolie said she also tested positive for the BRCA1 gene mutation, which meant “my doctors estimated that I had an 87 percent risk of breast cancer,” she wrote.

She shared her surgery experience in detail, starting with a “nipple delay” procedure in February 2013 to bring blood flow to the breast area. Two weeks later, she had her breast tissue removed in an eight-hour surgery, she wrote. Nine weeks after the mastectomy, she had breast reconstruction surgery.

“For any woman reading this, I hope it helps you to know you have options,” Jolie wrote. “I want to encourage every woman, especially if you have a family history of breast or ovarian cancer, to seek out the information and medical experts who can help you through this aspect of your life, and to make your own informed choices.”

Christina Applegate

In 2008, actress Christina Applegate was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 36, she told Oprah.com.

“It’s hard to live quietly,” she told the outlet. “I went through five weeks of work without telling anyone that this was going on in my life.”

She said doctors found a lump in her right breast, and then she later tested positive for the BRCA gene mutation.

“That sort of changed everything for me,” she told Oprah.com. “Radiation was something temporary, and it wasn’t addressing the issue of this coming back or the chance of it coming back in my left breast. I sort of had to kind of weigh all my options at that point.”

Applegate underwent a double mastectomy, one side for prevention and the other for treatment.

Sharon Osbourne

Speaking to Hello! Magazine in 2012, Sharon Osbourne, the former “X Factor” judge and spouse of rocker Ozzy Osbourne, said she was tested for the breast cancer gene mutation after having colon cancer a decade before.

“As soon as I found out I had the breast cancer gene, I thought: ‘The odds are not in my favour,’” she told the outlet. “I’ve had cancer before and I didn’t want to live under that cloud: I decided to just take everything off, and had a double mastectomy.”

She called the decision a “no-brainer” considering her history and told the outlet it was important for her to be around for her granddaughter Pearl.

“I didn’t even think of my breasts in a nostalgic way, I just wanted to be able to live my life without that fear all the time,” she told Hello!.

Giuliana Rancic

E! News’ Giuliana Rancic told Glamour in 2012 that she had undergone a double mastectomy the year before when her doctor found a lump in her breast during her third round of in vitro fertilization treatment.

Rancic first had just the lump in one breast removed, but it wasn’t enough, and she ultimately decided to have the tissue of both breasts removed.

Radiation, the alternative to a double mastectomy, would have “derailed their chance of conceiving,” she told the outlet, so surgery was her only option.

Unlike other women, Rancic had no family history of breast cancer, she told Glamour, and does not have the BRCA gene mutation, she wrote in a Facebook post.

Wanda Sykes

In 2011, comedian Wanda Sykes talked about her experience with breast cancer surgery on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show.”

Sykes said she was having a breast reduction after “getting tired of knocking over stuff” when doctors discovered cancer in her left breast. She said they found a very early stage of cancer but “cancer is cancer,” and she decided to have both breasts removed.

She said she’s not good at staying on top of things, joking that she probably needed an oil change and a teeth cleaning, and said a double mastectomy was the only way to ensure the cancer would not come back.

Sykes told DeGeneres there was a long history of breast cancer on her mother’s side that she didn’t know about before her diagnosis, but she did not share whether she tested positive for the breast cancer gene mutation.

Kathy Bates

Actress Kathy Bates shared her breast cancer diagnosis in 2012, CNN reported, and chose to have a double mastectomy instead of undergoing radiation or chemotherapy.

Bates previously had ovarian cancer in 2004, according to the outlet, but she did not share whether she tested positive for the BRCA gene mutation.

“I don’t miss my breasts as much as I miss Harry’s Law. ;-) Thanks for all the sweet tweets. Y’all keep me going,” Bates wrote in a tweet in 2012, according to CNN.

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