John Mulaney didn’t think twice when he brought wife Olivia Munn pain medication for her cancer recovery.
“I brought her a tray with apple juice, something she wanted to eat that her mom had made in the kitchen, and then it had Oxycontin and some sort of nerve medication and a Xanax, which they also gave just for rest and recovery,” Mulaney, 42, said on the Wednesday, May 21, episode of the “Where Everybody Knows Your Name” podcast.
Mulaney explained that Munn, 44, had just undergone a 10-hour double mastectomy and reconstructive surgery and still had “more to go.” (Munn announced in 2024 that she was diagnosed with breast cancer one year prior.)
“I’m walking and I go, ‘It never even crossed my mind that I was holding these medications in my hand.’ The obsession of it was gone,” he explained. “I thought, ‘Oh, I’m so far beyond that, and I can be a good butler with the best client.’”
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Mulaney shared in 2014 that he had been sober for nine years. By December 2020, however, the comedian voluntarily checked himself into rehab for alcoholism and cocaine addiction. He completed inpatient treatment in February 2021 and detailed his experience — including his “star-studded intervention” — in his 2023 Netflix special, Baby J.
Us Weekly confirmed Mulaney’s relationship with Munn in May 2021 following his split from ex-wife Anna Marie Tendler. Munn gave birth to their son, Malcolm, in November 2021. In August 2024, Mulaney confirmed he and Munn tied the knot. The couple welcomed daughter Méi via surrogate soon after.
“People stay the same in so many ways — and I’m still the same person I was when I was, like, 5, in so many ways — but I will admit, it’s a huge change. Just a huge way of looking at everything,” Mulaney said during Wednesday’s podcast episode. “I’m shocked I did it. I’m shocked I was able to do it.”
When cohost Ted Danson clarified whether Mulaney was referring to being sober, Mulaney added, “To actually stick to it in every way. To not have, ‘Well, I still do this.’ To not, ‘Well, I’m trying.’ Like, nothing wrong or shameful about relapse. I just mean I’m shocked, always, that it landed.”
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After Danson asked whether he feels “aggrieved” enough to go back to drugs, or whether he can see triggers, Mulaney replied, “Oh yeah. I’m very lucky that life’s been so great that it’s always 30 miles out.”
“But I’ll be doing something and I go, ‘Huh, you really want to be this exhausted, stretched thin, a little aggrieved?’ You really want to be in a situation, or can you now just go, ‘Hey, I don’t think what we’re working on, or I don’t think what we’re going to be setting up in life here is going to pay off well,” Mulaney continued.
“Or the word ‘entitled’ pops into your brain?” Danson asked, to which Mulaney responded, “A little bit, yeah.”
“Luckily those things are miles and miles off. That’s part of it, is just always knowing … so addicted to the self-control of it in some ways and so happy that I’m always present when I’m with my kids and Olivia and friends and everything,” he said. “I was in a bad neighborhood of my brain for a while. … You always have respect for it, that it’s still there. You go, ‘I see you. I know you’re there. But that’s not my daily life being afraid of it.’”
If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse, contact the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).
