Olivia Munn and John Mulaney’s romance timeline questioned

John Mulaney has announced he and Olivia Munn are expecting a baby – but not everybody is buying their account of their fairytale romance.

John Mulaney has announced to the world that he’s expecting a baby with actress Olivia Munn – but people are now questioning the couple’s version of their whirlwind romance.

The now-sober comedian has made a big deal about falling for the actress in the American spring (March to May of this year), shortly after leaving a stint in rehab for cocaine and alcohol abuse.

After plummeting into an intense spiral of addiction, Mulaney, 39, spent several months in rehab in 2020, leaving his most recent two-month stay in February. Also in February he asked his wife of nearly seven years, Anna Marie Tendler, for a divorce.

John Mulaney and Olivia Munn are Hollywood’s most talked about new celeb couple. Picture: Michael Simon/Shutterstock

Mulaney told Seth Meyers on his late-night NBC show this week: “I went to rehab in September, I got out in October, I moved out of my home from my ex-wife,” referencing his split from Tendler. “Then in the spring I went to Los Angeles and met and started to date a wonderful woman named Olivia.”

“I got into this relationship that’s been really beautiful with someone incredible,” he added: “And we’re having a baby together.”

He said that in fact he first met Munn at Meyers’ wedding in 2013.

But this timeline appears to be tenuous.

A celebrity agent who has worked with Munn said: “I don’t think it’s any coincidence that John broke the news of Olivia’s pregnancy the way he did in terms of basically giving a timeline of his past few months – when he moved out of his house, how it was the spring when he fell in love with Olivia.

“It seems to me that he is going to great lengths to dispute the idea that he cheated.”

Munn and Mulaney first met at comedian Seth Meyers’ 2013 wedding. Picture: Getty Images/AFP

Munn has dated a string of high-profile men including Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers and Hollywood hunk Chris Pine.

“She has a demonstrated history of hanging out with and spending time with SNL guys, so no way did their paths not cross, and there is the video of them together back in 2017,” the agent said.

Sources who know Tendler, now living on the US West Coast, confirmed that Mulaney had actually asked her for a divorce in February and not after leaving his September-through-October rehab stint, as he said.

One insider said of a People magazine report that Mulaney and Munn first met at church. “That was BS, and Twitter immediately called Olivia out on it, saying she’s known John for years.

“It isn’t entirely clear when their relationship started. There have been rumours for months about her being pregnant, and it all just seems like a very tight timeline.”

Mulaney’s wife Anna Marie Tendler said in May she was ‘heartbroken’ by their split. Picture: Dia Dipasupil/Getty

Indeed, Page Six was first told that Munn was talking openly about her pregnancy in July, as were Mulaney’s friends. He made the announcement of their impending arrival days after we published photos of Munn showing off her bump in LA last week.

The Tendler insider said: “Anna Marie knew he was doing things with other women before he went to rehab in December. And his claims to friends that he was trying to protect her before he went away to rehab were rubbish, she didn’t need protecting.

“John was using Anna Marie to protect himself. But still, she was very heartbroken that he decided to end her marriage. She was heartbroken how it went down, it wasn’t something that she wanted, she wanted to work it out. I am sure this news about the pregnancy will be very difficult for her.”

When Page Six first heard rumblings of Mulaney’s issues, sources close to the star said he was still with Tendler, 36, who he married in July 2014.

Just months after he left rehab in February 2021, however, it was announced they were divorcing.

This does not tally with Mulaney’s claims that he broke up with Tendler before his second stint in rehab.

Munn was photographed in public last week looking visibly pregnant. Picture: The Image Direct/Backgrid

Tendler – an artist who works across many media and is a master’s candidate in NYU’s Costume Studies program – added through her spokesperson, “I am heartbroken that John has decided to end our marriage.

“I wish him support and success as he continues his recovery.”

As for Mulaney’s first meeting with Munn, their paths absolutely crossed over the years.

Back in November 2017, they were seen on camera together for the Jon Stewart HBO special Night Of Too Many Stars, where Munn coquettishly said, “Hi, John” on camera as Mulaney walked off stage past her.

When their romance was first revealed by People magazine in May, a source said they met at a church in Los Angeles, although it noted that they “first connected socially several years ago and remained friendly”.

Both attended Meyers’ wedding to wife Alexi Ashe in Martha’s Vineyard.

Mulaney and Meyers are long-time close friends from their days working together on Saturday Night Live, where Mulaney was a staff writer and Meyers was head writer.

Munn also was there with her then-boyfriend, former SNL star Will Forte.

There was even an image of The Newsroom actress posing with Ashe in an article Mulaney wrote about the festivities for Vogue. In a 2015 HuffPost Live interview, Munn talked about being at a wedding with both Mulaney and Tendler and being “obsessed” with him.

“We were at a wedding together and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, do you and your fiancee want to go have dinner or something and go hang out?’” she said.

“At first it was cool, and then I kept going up to him at the wedding like, ‘So, you having fun?’” she said. “I was just so obsessed with hanging out with and talking with him.”

Munn added that she emailed the then-engaged comic but he never emailed back. “I might’ve got the wrong email – probably. That’s what I tell myself,” she said.

Despite tying the knot at Onteora Mountain House in the Catskills in an Art Deco-themed wedding, with their French bulldog Petunia by their side, in October 2014, Mulaney’s marriage to Tendler was troubled.

A friend with knowledge of their relationship said: “John really suffered through lockdown last year. Anna Marie moved to Washington D.C, to work at the Smithsonian on a project and he was back in NYC and out of control.

Munn previously revealed she was ‘obsessed’ with Mulaney when she first met him in 2013.

“He was DM’ing women on Instagram for hook-ups – whether he went through with anything, we don’t know – and by December he’d fallen off the wagon again and was abusing drugs and alcohol.

“This all followed a pattern. He and Anna Marie would break up and get back together again, he would get wasted and then he’d beg her to take him back.

“Sometimes, he told friends that he was so wasted that he had no recollection of even talking to these women.”

Mulaney was even open about never wanting children.

Mulaney has previously opened up about his personal life in his hit stand-up specials.

During his 2015 stand-up special The Comeback Kid, he opened up about feeling constant pressure to start a family with Tendler.

“Our real estate agent wanted us to have a baby more than anyone else in our lives. More than anyone else in our family,” he said. “She hinted about it constantly. Every room we’d walk into, she’d be like, ‘So this could be an office … or maybe a nursery.’”

Mulaney said he and his ex-wife would remind the agent that they didn’t want kids, but she continued to double down.

“No, no, I know,” the realtor responded. “You don’t know if you’re gonna have [kids], but you know, you never know. Sometimes you don’t know what’s gonna happen and then, you know, something happens. … This is an on-fire garbage can. … Could be a nursery.”

While showing the former couple another home, Mulaney recalled the real estate agent explaining why she didn’t “like this backyard” for them.

“She said, ‘It’s all pavement. I think you should have some grass out there, you know, in case you have a couple little guys running around in the grass,’” he joked. “And I got offended on behalf of my imaginary kids!”

Mulaney previously opened up about the pressure he felt to start a family with Tendler. Picture: Getty

He added that he didn’t want to change the life that he and Tendler had.

It was Mulaney’s closest – and most famous – friends who staged an intervention to get him into rehab one more time in December.

Making his stand-up comeback at City Winery in NYC in May, he revealed how friends including Meyers, Bill Hader, Natasha Lyonne, Fred Armisen and his best friend Nick Kroll persuaded him to go to a clinic.

He joked: “I was the best-looking person at my intervention,” he said, because he was dressed up, had just had a haircut, and unlike everyone in the room who’d gained weight during the pandemic, he was down to about 47kg thanks to lots of drugs.

After leaving rehab in February, Mulaney lived in sober living for another month-and-a-half.

Speaking on Late Night With Seth Meyers, Mulaney told how he had been to rehab several times, with the final time a result of an intervention instigated by Meyers.

“I love you, Seth,” he told Meyers at the end of his appearance. ”You guys saved me from drugs and Olivia and this baby have helped save me from myself. I don’t have a joke for that. I’m really grateful to you, buddy.”

An NBC source said, “We just all want John to be happy. Seth has been his biggest cheerleader, he gave him a job last year to keep an eye on him. He organised the intervention, there was something special about him announcing the pregnancy on his show.”

Reps for Mulaney declined to comment.

This story originally appeared on Page Six and is republished here with permission