Olivia Munn Alleges Therapist Told Her To Stay In A Toxic Relationship

Olivia Munn is sharing a deeply personal chapter of her life, revealing that a former therapist once encouraged her to remain in a toxic relationship, one that left her filled with “unhappiness and fear.”

During a candid conversation on Monica Lewinsky’s "Reclaiming" podcast, the actress reflected on what she described as a “bad, bad period” in her life, though she chose not to name names.

Munn explained that during this time, she turned to a trusted mental health professional for guidance, believing the therapist had her best interests at heart.

However, instead of urging her to leave the harmful situation, she says they advised her to stay.

“In that particular situation, I had a therapist who I really loved and I know that she cared about me, or at least I thought she did,” Munn recalled, per Page Six. “I would constantly, from the very beginning, say, ‘I don’t know about this, I don’t think this is the right [relationship,] I want to get out,’ and then it got worse and worse and I’d be calling her crying like, ‘I gotta get out.’”

Rather than supporting her desire to leave, Munn said the therapist dismissed her concerns, convinced that she was simply making the wrong relationship choices.

“She thought that my ‘picker’ was off, and she would look at it as like, ‘This person on paper looked great,’” Munn explained. “And when there was couples therapy, they knew how to present the right way. Then the stories I would tell seemed unbelievable.”

Now, looking back, the "Magic Mike" star says she’s learned to trust her own instincts rather than relying on outside opinions.

“From that experience, learning that I gotta go with my gut and I gotta be decisive with some things if it’s coming from a place where I want to survive,” she said. “I realize that I’m not happy and that days and weeks and months go by of unhappiness and fear.”

Munn said the catalyst for her healing was finally walking away from the toxic relationship. “I don’t know if there’s a word to describe what that relationship was like. It was without a doubt the hardest period of my life, being in that,” she admitted.

She described feeling “really trapped” in a tumultuous family dynamic, but eventually, she made the choice to fight back.

“It taught me how to stand up and fight for myself, so that was great,” she said. “I truly had no idea that I could be manipulated and hurt that way, that I wouldn’t just get out of something that was dangerous to my psyche.”

As Munn moves forward, her focus is on ensuring her children never find themselves in a similar situation. She shares two children with her husband John Mulaney, son Malcolm, 3, and daughter Méi, 5 months,

She hopes to instill in them the power of listening to their instincts.

“When they say like, ‘Oh, just go on the date! You never know. You might like him, you might at least learn what you don’t like,’ I think some people who are subconsciously vulnerable, which is what I think I was, because I had no idea I was this vulnerable to anything that had happened to me post that first date, if you feel in your gut something’s not right, then don’t do that first date or get out right away, because one date could take years off your life,” she advised.

Munn also emphasized that the impact of toxic relationships extends far beyond the time spent with that person.

“[It’s] not just the period that you’re with that person but, if you’re lucky to get out, the years [of] healing yourself afterwards,” she added.

She has been romantically linked to several celebrities over the years, including Bryan Greenberg, Chris Pine, Matthew Morrison, and Joel Kinnaman.

One of her most notable and long-term relationships was with Aaron Rodgers, whom she dated from 2014 to 2017. During their time together, reports circulated that Munn played a role in the NFL star’s strained relationship with his family.

As for John Mulaney, he was previously married to Anna Marie Tendler for six years before they officially ended their marriage in 2021.