Olivia Munn reveals how Kate helped her deal with cancer journey

A Hollywood star has revealed how the Princess of Wales helped her through her cancer journey.

Actress Olivia Munn, 45, who is best known for her roles in HBO's The Newsroom, X-Men: Apocalypse and Magic Mike was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2023, and underwent treatment. 

While she is 'good today' - albeit finding some of the ongoing medical treatment after undergoing a double mastectomy 'exhausting' - the actress revealed how she felt inspired by seeing other public figures being candid about their health issues.

'Kate Middleton had talked about this recently, and she said it so succinctly [and] it really touched me and gave me such a sense of peace, because I finally had words behind it,' Olivia told PEOPLE.

'That's where it feels really good… when you hear other people's experiences, because it is true - you feel so much better when you know you're not alone.'  

Kate, 44, announced that she was in remission from an undisclosed form of cancer in January 2025. 

She had been receiving chemotherapy for an undisclosed form of cancer since late February 2024, with the King beginning his cancer care earlier that month following his diagnosis after treatment for an enlarged prostate.

Announcing in September 2024 her treatment had ended, Kate described in an emotional video message how the previous nine months had been 'incredibly tough for us as a family' and 'doing what I can to stay cancer free is now my focus'.

Her husband Prince William later said in a separate interview how 2024 had been 'brutal'.

Over the summer last year, Kate spoke about the aftermath of her remission as she met fellow patients at a cancer wellbeing centre at Colchester Hospital.

She said: 'There is a whole phase when you finish your treatment, everybody expects you to be better - go! But that's not the case at all.

'You put on a sort of brave face, stoicism through treatment. Treatment's done, then it's like "I can crack on, get back to normal" but actually the phase afterwards is really difficult.

'You're not necessarily under the clinical team any longer but you're not able to function normally at home as you perhaps once used to.

'And actually someone to help talk you through that, show you and guide you through that sort of phase that comes after treatment I think is really valuable.

'You have to find your new normal and that takes time.'

Oliva has echoed similar sentiments. Speaking to the outlet, she added: 'I've been open about this, that with breast cancer, there's so much medication afterwards for certain people.

'And for someone like me - and the type of breast cancer I had, and how aggressive it was, and for the age I am, and not having been premenopausal when I was diagnosed, there's so many more medications I have to take. And there are a lot of side effects and they have been really hard on me.'

Olivia underwent five surgeries between 2023-2024 including a lymph node dissection, a double mastectomy, an ovariectomy and a partial hysterectomy. 

Last month Olivia revealed how her husband, comedian John Mulaney was known to crack 'inappropriate cancer jokes' in order to cheer her up, during her two-year battle against bilateral breast cancer.

'We've made a lot of inappropriate cancer jokes that we could never tell publicly because it just lightened the mood,' she told CBS Sunday Morning.

'It just made it not so scary. It really helped change my mind at times, you know? Sometimes when I was really scared, we'd talk about it and we'd really get into all of the fears and his fears and then there'd be like a lull and then he would make a joke. And it would just all feel not so scary at that time. He's the best.'