"I don't have the ability to carry a baby anymore, so if we want to build our family, this is our option," Olivia Munn told Vogue.
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Olivia Munn, 43, says she has frozen her eggs on three separate occasions in her life, most recently in response to her breast cancer diagnosis.
The "X-Men: Apocalypse" actor spoke to Vogue about her decision in an interview published on Sunday. She shared that she underwent egg freezing at ages 33, 39, and 42.
"It's interesting because my 33-year-old eggs were great. My 39-year-old eggs? None of them worked. As you get older, one month can have great eggs, the other not so much. Clearly, the month we did at 39 was not a good month," Munn told Vogue.
Since chemotherapy and radiation can affect a person's fertility, Munn said she and her husband, John Mulaney, decided to try freezing her eggs again before she started on any cancer treatment.
"John and I talked about it a lot and we don't feel like we're done growing our family, but didn't know if I would have to do chemotherapy or radiation," Munn said. "After my diagnosis, we decided to try one more round of egg retrievals and hoped it was a good month."
Munn said they hoped to make just one embryo from this retrieval attempt. Thankfully, they were successful.
"A few hours later, we got the call from my doctor," Munn said. "He shared that we had two healthy embryos. John and I just started crying. It was just so exciting because not only did we get it in one retrieval, but it also meant that I didn't have to keep putting myself at risk. It was just amazing."
As for her embryos, Munn says that she will likely go down the surrogacy route in the future.
"I don't have the ability to carry a baby anymore, so if we want to build our family, this is our option," Munn said, adding that she used to be intimidated by that prospect.
"When you're pregnant with your own baby, it's like teamwork — you and the baby working together to make their little life come true," she said. "You're doing all this work to eat well, try to not have anxiety, just do all the right things during the pregnancy."
But it's not easy to find the right surrogate, she added.
"With a surrogate, you have to try to go find a version of yourself somewhere out in the world. Somebody that you trust as much as yourself to live their life as a pregnant woman the same way that you would," she said.
A representative for Munn did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent outside regular business hours.
People with uteruses are born with about one to two million eggs, and this number gradually decreases with age. Raegan McDonald-Mosley, MD, MPH, an obstetrician-gynecologist and chief executive of Power to Decide, told Business Insider that the likelihood of getting pregnant generally peaks between the late teens and the late 20s.
However, egg freezing is mainly recommended for those who have to undergo cancer treatment that will affect their future fertility, according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
Due to the rise in hormone levels, there are side effects associated with egg freezing, including mood swings, headaches, and nausea. Some people might also experience cramps and bloating following the retrieval procedure.
There are many celebrities who have welcomed children via surrogacy, including Chrissy Teigen and John Legend, Paris Hilton, and Rebel Wilson.
