Olivia Munn Reveals She Rejected a Seven-Figure NDA to Stay Silent on “Traumatic” Hollywood Experience

Entertainment
Bente Birkeland
February 21, 2025
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7 minutes read

(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Olivia Munn is opening up about a difficult chapter in her career—one that came with a hefty price tag for her silence. During the February 18 episode of Reclaiming, Monica Lewinsky’s podcast, The Newsroom star shared that while working on an unnamed film, she endured “traumatic” experiences that led her to file official complaints with the studio.

What followed was an unexpected offer: a seven-figure settlement in exchange for signing a non-disclosure agreement. “I had to file complaints with the studio, and there’s a lot of other little things that go along with it, but it got to this place where I was offered a lot of money,” Munn, 44, explained. “Seven figures to accept, I guess, their apology and them taking acknowledgment of it.

But it came along with an NDA.” Despite the staggering sum, Munn knew immediately she wasn’t interested. The actress emphasized that she never intended to make the situation public—she simply wanted to move on. But signing an NDA, she feared, could ultimately work against her.

“This was like the reckoning, the Harvey Weinstein reckoning that began it all,” Munn said, referencing the 2017 resurgence of the Me Too movement. At the time, many criticized those who signed NDAs, accusing them of staying silent for financial gain.

“I was afraid that my voice and speaking up would just reverse any kind of validity to my voice,” she admitted. She also suspected the studio might use the NDA against her, leaking its existence to “diminish” her actions. Though she briefly met with lawyers to discuss the settlement, Munn wasted no time rejecting the offer outright.

“That comes into the feistiness of not thinking things through and being so upset and frustrated that this would be the offer to me,” she told Lewinsky. “I did not think about negotiating. I did not think about anything besides how disrespectful that was.”

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One moment in the conversation stood out—a lawyer emphasizing the amount of money involved as if she should reconsider. Munn’s response? “I know this is a lot of money to you, but it is not a lot of money to me to raise my voice.” Walking out of that meeting, she remembers feeling one thing: Proud.

At the time of the Me Too movement, Munn was working on projects like 2018’s The Predator. While she hasn’t named the film in question, her story serves as a powerful reminder of the difficult decisions women in Hollywood have had to make in the fight to be heard.