Having experienced pregnancy before, waiting to welcome a baby via surrogacy made Olivia Munn feel more like a dad. The actress and comedian John Mulaney welcomed their daughter, Méi, via surrogate in September 2024. About three years prior, they welcomed their son, Malcolm. Olivia previously revealed that she and John were not together when she found out they were expecting their first child together. They ended up getting married before they welcomed Méi.
Olivia and John welcomed Méi via surrogate because of Olivia’s cancer diagnosis.
Olivia was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2023 and underwent multiple procedures to treat it, including removal of her uterus, fallopian tubes, and ovaries. Because she couldn’t carry a pregnancy, she and John decided to welcome their second baby via a surrogate. In April, Olivia opened up about surrogacy when speaking to Self. “It was devastating for me not to be able to carry [Méi],” she told the publication at the time. “I loved carrying my son.” She explained that she and her husband found their surrogate through an agency. Olivia described her as “an incredible mother, an incredible human being, an incredible friend, just wonderful.”
Having a baby via surrogacy was an emotional experience for Olivia, as it was not really what she wanted. “I needed [her] to understand that I needed to go this route,” she said of her surrogate. “It wasn’t for superficial reasons or because I wanted to put my work first. I’m not saying that any of those reasons aren’t valid for those people. And I’m not judging anyone who makes those decisions based on that, but I needed her to understand this would be hard for me.”
She described feeling “emotional” because “it’s your baby, and the baby is somewhere else in the world.”
Recently, she admitted that this experience made her feel more like a father.
Not feeling that connection to her baby as she prepared for her arrival, Olivia began to wonder if what she was experiencing was similar to how men feel when their partner is pregnant.
“A lot of times people say, ‘Oh, the dads don’t really connect with the baby until it’s right there in front of them,'” Olivia told People. “The dads, they’re not carrying the baby.”
She felt less connected to her baby even though she stayed in touch with their surrogate.
Because Olivia carried Malcolm, she remembered feeling more connected to him as she awaited his arrival. “I carried Malcolm, so I understood from the very genesis, like, OK, I’ve got a life in me,” Olivia explained to the publication. “Your body is changing and your energy is changing and your hair is changing and everything’s changing, so it feels very real all the time.”
In contrast, she felt more disconnected while their surrogate carried Méi even though she stayed in touch with the surrogate. It made her wonder, “Oh wait, is this what it’s like to be an expectant dad?”
“Even though it all felt very real for me, and our surrogate and I spoke all the time and she’d send me videos, it was a little bit of, ‘Oh wait, she’s coming,'” Olivia told People. “I felt like an expectant father.”
