In a new GQ profile of comedian John Mulaney, his wife Olivia Munn gets candid about how they first “connected” in early 2021, when he was just out of rehab for drug addiction.
But this “brief” connection led to an unusual relationship trajectory, with “The Predator” actor becoming pregnant before they even thought about dating, much less about becoming a couple, GQ reported. At the time, Mulaney would only say he would “be involved” in the baby’s life “in some way.”
In the GQ story, Munn explained that they were really not like other unmarried couples who are at least serious about each other when faced with an unintended pregnancy and have to decide what to do about it.
Their relationship sounds more in line with the hit 2007 romantic comedy, “Knocked Up.” Sure, some of the plot points of the movie and of Munn and Mulaney’s real-life romance don’t match up. But there are some notable similarities, which Mulaney probably could mine some more for his next standup comedy act.
In “Knocked Up,” an ambitious TV host named Alison, played by Katherine Heigl, has a one-night stand with a slacker named Ben, who is played by Seth Rogan. They go their separate ways the next morning, after they think they don’t have much in common.
But then Alison learns she’s pregnant, and Ben wants to do the responsible thing and be involved in the baby’s life — just like Mulaney. Romantic feelings between Alison and Ben grow during the course of her pregnancy, and the movie ends with Alison giving birth and the couple hoping to start a life together.
Unlike Alison and Ben, Munn and Mulaney were acquainted with each other before they “connected” and made a baby, according to GQ. They had met, though, just once — at the 2013 wedding of Seth Meyers, Mulaney’s friend and former “Saturday Night Live” colleague.
During 2020, Mulaney’s life unraveled as he spiraled into drug and alcohol addiction. He split up with his wife, multimedia artist Anna Marie Tender, and entered rehab in September 2020. But he left and relapsed. He returned to rehab in Demember 2020 after some of his famous friends, including Meyers, Bill Hader, Fred Armisen, Nick Kroll and Natasha Lyonne, staged a “starry intervention that has since passed into legend,” GQ reported.
Soon after leaving rehab, the comedian “connected” with Munn in what GQ described as a “brief” relationship. Soon after, they learned she was pregnant, but they didn’t start dating.
If the tabloids thought they had a scoop about them being a couple, “the joke was on them, because it was never true: They were just having a baby,” GQ reported.
“It wasn’t anything close to ‘dating,’” Munn told GQ. “I barely knew him.” Still, when she told Mulaney she was pregnant, she said he was eager for her to have the baby.
“It wasn’t necessarily ‘We’re going to be married and live together’ or any of that, but it was ‘I will be involved in some way.’ ” Munn explained. She assumed that they would find a way to co-parent. But for most of the pregnancy, Munn lived in Los Angeles while Mulaney stayed in New York. They would talk every few weeks or he would visit.
Munn also realized that Mulaney was new to sobriety and said she didn’t know him well enough to help him. When he did open up to her, he said he was afraid he would relapse, though he wasn’t stressed about becoming a father, she said.
“That’s the one thing that made him seem light and happy,” Munn said. “I remember he was really excited to tell his parents.”
During that period, Munn and Mulaney grew close, like the couple in “Knocked Up.” But unlike the “Knocked Up” duo, Munn and Mulaney were still dealing with his recovery. Together, they agreed that she would give him random drug tests to give them both “confidence,” GQ reported. It’s a ritual they still practice.
Finally, about two months before the November 2021 birth of their son, Malcom, Munn and Mulaney decided that they would live together and raise him as a couple. They now live in Orange County, GQ reported.
“She and John are both very much in love with their baby boy,” a source told Us Weekly in January 2022. “All seems to be going great with John. … It’s an exciting time.”
Less than three years after welcoming Malcolm, Munn and Mulaney married in July, in a small private ceremony at the New York home of their friend, “Law and Order” star Sam Waterston.
The comedian confirmed the news during an appearance on “Late Night With Seth Meyers,” gushing, “I got married. Thanks a lot. It’s the best.” Mulaney called the moment the “greatest single time in my life.”
In September, Munn and Mulaney welcomed their second child, daughter Méi, via surrogate, Us Weekly reported. The birth of their daughter came after Munn struggled with cancer and underwent a hysterectomy. She said she was grateful to be able to have a second baby via surrogate.
