How Olivia Munn Overcame Her Bullies, Embraced Her Individuality

With a handful of blockbuster films under her belt, including a stake in the X-Men universe and a stint in the upcoming “Ocean’s Eight,” Olivia Munn easily fits in with Hollywood’s elite. However, despite her current “It” girl buzz, Munn wasn’t always this popular. At a press conference for her upcoming film, “The LEGO Ninjago Movie,” the 37-year-old actress revealed that she was outcasted so severely in school that she was forced to eat lunch alone.

For Munn, the bullying began at a young age. Growing up in a military family, Munn moved frequently from school to school, which she said prevented her from fitting in with the same “social cliques” as kids who met when they were “5 or 6.”

“I moved around a lot as a kid. I was in a military family and I was always the new kid and, so, one of the hardest things as a kid, I think, is finding a group to hang out with and have lunch with and that starts pretty early on,” Munn said.

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As she got older, Munn began comparing herself to her more popular classmates. Raised with not a lot of money, Munn also started desiring items, such as cool pencil cases and fancy backpacks, that she couldn’t afford, but believed would make her more popular.

“You want to just be liked by people, then you want to be liked by the popular kids and then, ‘I want that really cool pencil case.’ And, ‘I want that backpack.’ And we didn’t grow up with a lot of money,” she said. “I was becoming envious and feeling very alone.”

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Eventually, after realizing that there are people who are always going to live a more enviable life than her, Munn learned to embrace her individuality and stopped comparing herself to others.

“I had this realization that, no matter what, there is always going to be someone prettier, taller, nicer, smarter, richer and then there are always going to be people on the other side, as well,” she said. “I just have to do my best at being me and, hopefully, it will all work out because I can’t worry about people ahead of me. I can’t worry about people behind me. I’ve just got to run my own race.”

Though she still ate lunch alone, Munn had a better outlook on her lack of social groups. Instead of looking down on her inability to fit in, Munn was empowered by her choice to live by her own rules—a mantra we can definitely get behind.

“I just kept eating lunch by myself, but that was my choice,” Munn said. “It was just more realizing that I shouldn’t care about what other people are doing and work on myself. “