John Mulaney: Olivia Munn can be 'so dumb' thanks to 'cancer brain'
John Mulaney has claimed his wife Olivia Munn's cancer treatment has left her "so dumb" at times.
John Mulaney has claimed Olivia Munn's cancer treatment has left her "so dumb" at times.
The 42-year-old actor - who has Malcolm, three, and Méi, six months, with 'The Newsroom' actress - praised his wife for being an "inspiration" while battling breast cancer but revealed one of the side effects she has experienced after undergoing "challenging" medical processes has been so-called "cancer brain".
Speaking on the new season of his Netflix talk show 'Everybody's Live With John Mulaney', he said: “Yes, I have two children now. One was controversial, one you all seem to be cool with.
"So, thank you so much for that. I did want to say something: Over the past few months, many people have reached out in a very nice way about my wife Olivia who’s been battling breast cancer. I really appreciate all the nice messages that obviously she has received and that even I have received.
“But it’s been a real thing to be with someone you love so much going through this.
"In the past couple years, Olivia has had five surgeries, months and months of cancer treatment, and the fight that she’s put up has made her so inspiring. And the effect of cancer treatment on her brain has made her, at times, so dumb.
“There’s a thing called cancer brain: not brain cancer. Cancer brain. It’s a sweet, wonderful dumbness that happens after all that challenging treatment."
The comedian went on to share a story of how the 44-year-old actress' words suddenly failed her when they had a consultation about having their second child, who was born to a surrogate.
He said: "I’ll give you an example. We went to a fertility doctor, we were going to make embryos. This was after Olivia had a double mastectomy, but before her hysterectomy and ovariectomy. We were going to make embryos for what eventually became our daughter this fall.
"We were standing in the doctor’s office and this conversation happened word for word. Doctor, ‘The great news is nine eggs survived the thaw.’ Olivia, ‘So now, we uh, combine it with his, uh, c**?’
"[I said] 'Baby, baby. It’s semen', [and the doctor said] 'Guys, it’s sperm.' ”
The former Saturday Night Live' star recently admitted that seeing how Olivia has used her public platform to raise awareness of cancer since her own diagnosis April 2023 has been an "astonishing" thing to watch.
He told 'CBS News Sunday Morning': "There's this lifetime risk assessment that is really the only reason her cancer was discovered and seeing so many women publicly and privately come to her, they discovered how high their risk was from that. It's astonishing.
"I have this feeling a lot of times. I go 'I can't believe I know this person, let alone have married her."
