Breast cancer survivor Olivia Munn is embracing her post-mastectomy body.
The actor, a paid spokesperson for Skims, stars in the brand’s latest bra campaign in partnership with Susan G. Komen and shows her double mastectomy scars in the images.
The 44-year-old is proud of how the images turned out, but told “TODAY” co-anchor Savannah Guthrie the photo shoot ended up going in a totally different direction than it was originally supposed to.
“When Skims approached me to do this campaign, it was just to do their shapewear and their new leggings, and it wasn’t about my scar at all,” she said during a “TODAY” show interview on Wednesday.
When Munn was changing outfits, she slipped into something that would show more of her scars and a makeup artist on set started covering them up, but it was “just really hard” to do, she explained.
“Then I was looking in the mirror, and I just thought, ‘I’m done being insecure about my scars,’” Munn recalled. “So I went to the team of Skims and I said, ‘What do you guys think about showing my scars in this campaign?’ And they were so amazing and thoughtful and wonderful. And we talked it out and we decided to do it.”
Munn, who was diagnosed with luminal B breast cancer in April 2023, has undergone several surgeries. Earlier this year, she told People she had “a lymph node dissection, a nipple delay procedure (a surgical procedure which spares the nipples) and a double mastectomy.”
Additionally, the star had breast reconstruction surgery and began hormone suppression therapy, which induced menopause. Munn also had her ovaries, uterus and fallopian tubes removed.
While reflecting on her recent photo shoot, Munn described the experience as “really scary,” but said she’s happy she did it.
“I feel like this is something I’ve been hiding for a long time now, and it just feels like I can breath a little bit more,” she said.
The mother of two also hopes she can inspire other women to embrace their beauty.
“Knowing there are so many women that have these same scars as me, I know that so many of them feel the same way I felt about them for so long. And I hope that they see the Skims campaign,” she said. “Skims is so iconic and associated with beauty and sex appeal, and cancer really doesn’t have that same connotation. So I just really hope that other women who have gone through my same path feel a little better after seeing it.”
Munn first learned she had a 37% lifetime risk of developing breast cancer when her doctor calculated her breast cancer risk assessment score during a routine OB-GYN appointment.
While chatting with Guthrie, the former “The Newsroom” star encouraged women to understand their own breast cancer risk and not be afraid to advocate for their health.
“What I’ve learned is that … you’ve got to go your doctor and you inundate them with information and you don’t stop until they give you the test you need,” she said.
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