John Mulaney is sharing the “intervention” that wife Olivia Munn staged for him.
A few years ago, John Mulaney pivoted from a marriage that he’d made part of his stand-up specials and professional brand. Suddenly, he was divorcing his now ex-wife and impregnating Olivia Munn.
This change, which happened over a span of months, didn’t come out of nowhere. The beloved comedian had just been to rehab and was clearly reimagining his life.
Addiction recovery is a journey, not an event. As part of that, John Mulaney explains, Olivia Munn staged a miniature intervention to help keep him sober.
Olivia Munn gave John Mulaney an intervention when he needed one
On Tuesday, November 12, GQ announced John Mulaney as the publication’s Man of the Year.
For many years, the comedian has been open about his struggles with substance abuse and addiction. Recently, his life has changed.
Over the past few years, he ended his marriage, went into rehab, and became a father of two with new wife Olivia Munn in short order. Now, he’s opening up about his ongoing recovery.
“There was a time when I would have told you that I could not fly, sleep, or perform unless I had a Klonopin,” John Mulaney admitted. Klonopin is the brand name of clonazepam, a benzodiazepine that helps with, among other things, anxiety.
“I would have said, ‘It sucks because I don’t always want to take Klonopin and Xanax, but I have to,’” he described.
In December 2020, John Mulaney checked himself into rehab, but not for prescription anxiety medication. That was for cocaine and alcohol dependency.
One ‘insane’ night of drugs was (almost) his wake-up call
According to the comedian, he had an “insane” night before rehab. A night where he worried that he might die from how many drugs that he’d taken.
“I thought, ‘Okay … I’m going to totally slow down. That was like a Tuesday. And Thursday night, I did it again,” John Mulaney explained.
More recently, Olivia Munn staged a “mini” intervention, he characterized it, as part of his recovery. When she was six months pregnant, she began randomly drug-testing him.
“It’s like a relief … I like to be able to not even have that be a question in her or anyone else’s mind,” John Mulaney then expressed.
“Something about peeing in that cup is like, I’m walking this walk,” he then explained. “It gives me confidence.”
John Mulaney noted that the intervention from Olivia Munn is just one aspect of his recovery journey, and of their relationship. He also acknowledged that getting together while he was just beginning his recovery journey was really not putting his best foot forward as a partner.
There’s more to John Mulaney and Olivia Munn’s marriage than intervention and recovery
In May of 2021, the world first learned of John Mulaney and Olivia Munn’s romance. They married in July and have two children, Malcolm and Méi.
Notably, Mulaney’s very public breakup with ex-wife Anna Marie Tendler troubled many of his fans. He had spent years praising his childfree marriage in stand-up. While anyone is allowed to change their mind at any time, his abrupt pivot to divorce and having children was alienating to fans whom he’d previously attracted.
John Mulaney inviting Dave Chappelle as a surprise opener also drove away now-former fans. Chappelle’s controversies became Mulaney’s by proxy. But even his critics are glad to hear about his sobriety success.