Olivia Munn discusses living with a very specific condition known as trichotillomania

By Alli Rosenbloom, CNN

(CNN) — Olivia Munn is sharing that she lives with a health condition not many people know about.

Munn spoke about her experience with trichotillomania – a mental health condition that “involves frequent, repeated and irresistible urges to pull out hair from your scalp, eyebrows or other areas of your body,” according to the Mayo Clinic – while appearing on Monday’s episode of the “Armchair Expert” podcast.

“It could be hair at the top of your head, because there’s a sensation. It’s probably not even real, but I’ll feel like, oh, this eyelash feels like it’s gonna come out,” Munn said. “And then when you pull it, there is a quick second of pain. And then there’s a satisfaction and an immediate regret.”

An incident with the paparazzi that happened while Munn was dating actor Chris Pine, to whom she was romantically linked between 2009 and 2010, sparked the onset of the condition, she said.

Munn told the podcast’s hosts Dax Shepard and Monica Padman that the then-couple were photographed leaving his apartment together at the time, and the photos were posted online.

“I did the horrible thing, which was to read the comments… And they were like, ‘I think she set this up!’” Munn said regarding some of the insensitive reactions she read online. “That began my trichotillomania. That was the very beginning.”

The “X-Men: Apocalypse” actress has been open about her health in recent years after she first revealed that she was diagnosed with a form of breast cancer known as Luminal B cancer in 2024.

The cancer was found in both of her breasts, and Munn’s treatment included a double mastectomy.

Munn also shared in May that she underwent a hysterectomy as part of her treatment, telling Vogue that the procedure was an alternative to taking a cancer treatment medication that was causing her to experience “next-level, debilitating exhaustion.” It was “the best decision for me because I needed to be present for my family,” she added at the time.

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