Olivia Munn Taps into Her Past Struggles for “Your Friends and Neighbors” Role: 'I Was at the Bottom of the World' (Exclusive)

• Olivia Munn shared how she utilized her past struggles to step into the shoes of Sam in the upcoming Apple TV+ series, Your Friends and Neighbors

• The actress — who was diagnosed with breast cancer in April 2023 — tells PEOPLE, "I've been in places where I feel like everything I love has been stripped away from me"

• The Newsroom alum said she "wasn't feeling like that" while filming, but has had “many times in my life felt like I was at the bottom of the world"

Olivia Munn may be at the top of the world now, but she tapped into her past struggles for her role in the upcoming series, Your Friends & Neighbors.

At the Apple TV+ show's premiere in New York City on Tuesday, April 8, the actress, 44, revealed to PEOPLE that she could step into the shoes of her character Sam, a divorcee who is having a secret affair with Andrew "Coop" Cooper (Jon Hamm), because she knows what it’s like to face difficult moments.

“I've been in places where I feel like everything I love has been stripped away from me,” said Munn, who was diagnosed with bilateral breast cancer in April 2023, which resulted in five surgeries, including a lymph node dissection, a double mastectomy and a hysterectomy.  “And I feel like I'm about to lose everything that I've worked hard for.”

Related: Olivia Munn Recalls Her Costar Jon Hamm Telling Her to ‘Bite’ Him ‘Really Hard’ During Intimate Scenes (Exclusive)

She continued, “And I feel like life is unfair and feel like the earth is falling out from beneath me and never being able to catch your breath and just hoping that by waking up and walking forward that something's going to click or something's going to figure itself out for you.”

While The Newsroom alum admitted that she “wasn't feeling like that” while filming, she acknowledged, “I have [had] many times in my life felt like I was at the bottom of the world.”

Munn also shared how Sam differs from the other characters in the highly-anticipated series, saying, “My character comes from a blue collar background and has married into this, and she's really ambitious. She's a mother of two. Being in this world is everything that she's always wanted and it represents safety and stability.”

Related: Jon Hamm Turns to Thievery and Struggles to Hide His Passionate Love Affair with Olivia Munn in Your Friends & Neighbors

However, viewers will meet the character “right at the precipice of her losing everything,” according to Munn.

“And what I love is the show opens up where you basically see myself and Jon Hamm's character in a moment where our lives are crumbling,” she added. “And the thing that I think that she has that everyone else in this world is a real determination to keep their place in their social circles, their social hierarchy at any cost.”

The series chronicles Coop as he picks up the pieces of his life after being "fired in disgrace," according to an official synopsis. He resorts to "stealing from the homes of his neighbors in the exceedingly affluent Westmont Village, only to discover that the secrets and affairs hidden behind those wealthy facades might be more dangerous than he ever imagined."

Your Friends & Neighbors — which has already been picked up for a second season — also features Amanda Peet, Hoon Lee, Mark Tallman, Lena Hall, Aimee Carrero, Eunice Bae, Isabel Gravitt and Donovan Colan.

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Your Friends and Neighbors premieres Friday, April 11 on Apple TV+.

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