Olivia Munn is opening up about the regrets she has in naming her daughter Mei June on Monday’s episode of Late Night with Seth Meyers.
The 44-year-old actress and mother of two with husband John Mulaney was promoting her new Apple TV Plus series Your Friends & Neighbors.
When host Meyers mentioned that she named Mei June as a tribute to her mother, she admitted, ‘Well, I thought I did.’
Munn revealed her mother – Dung Kim Schmid – told what she thought was an innocent lie during a car ride, that led to the name.
‘So, my daughter’s name is Mei, with an accent over the ‘E,’ which is plum in Chinese. And we were thinking about what the middle name should be,’ Munn began.
‘And one day we were driving, my mom just says out of nowhere, “You know, people call me June.” My mom’s name is Dung, it’s spelled d-u-n-g,’ the actress said.
Olivia Munn is opening up about the regrets she has in naming her daughter Mei June on Monday’s episode of Late Night with Seth Meyers.
When host Meyers mentioned that she named Mei June as a tribute to her mother, she admitted, ‘Well, I thought I did’
‘She said, people call me June. I said when do people call you June? And she was like, “You know, a lot of people call me June. It’s the Americanized name for Dung,’ Munn continued.
‘I said, “People call you June?” She goes, “Yeah, everyone calls me June.” I said, all right,’ as Munn admitted, ‘her middle name is Kim, so everyone calls her Kim.’
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Some time after that car ride, her husband, comedian John Mulaney, mentioned, ‘that would be such a pretty name and such a great way to honor your mother. So why don’t we name her mei June.’
Munn added she thought it was, ‘a great idea,’ though when the child was born, she sent a text to the family chain, revealing she was named Mei June Mulaney and she was named after her mom.
‘Then an hour later, my mom comes to the hospital. She’s holding the baby, and I realized she didn’t say anything about the name yet. So I said, mom, what do you think about her name? She goes, “It’s okay,”‘ Munn said as the crowd laughed.
‘I said, wait, what? Do you like the name? And she goes, “It’s okay,’ Munn said, adding that her grandmother’s name is Estelle.
Munn told Kim, ‘I was thinking about naming her mei Estelle. Maybe I should just do that. And she goes, “You should change it,”‘ which stunned the audience.
The actress said her mother was ‘pitching out other names to change the baby’s name,’ when she began to realize why her mother said people call her June in the first place.
‘She said, people call me June. I said when do people call you June? And she was like, “You know, a lot of people call me June. It’s the americanized name for Dung,’ Munn continued
‘I said, “People call you June?” She goes, “Yeah, everyone calls me June.” I said, all right,’ as Munn admitted, ‘her middle name is Kim, so everyone calls her Kim’
‘And then one day it hits me. So, my mom loves to talk. She just talks, talks — one time she spoke to me for 30 minutes about how she doesn’t talk a lot,’ Munn joked.
‘I remember back to that day where she told us people called her June. And I remember that there was nothing being said in the car. It was just silence, and then she just came up with this June thing,’ Munn said.
The actress ultimately confronted her mother, asking, ‘Mom, I think I know what happened. Did you just want to talk that day so you came up with this story that people call you June but no one has ever called you June?’
Kim/June responded, ‘Yes, people call me June,’ and when asked when, ‘She said in 1987, two women called me June.”‘
Munn added, ‘I was like, you know what? It’s staying June. We’re not changing it. So, yeah, she’s kind of in honor of my mother, but I hope she doesn’t grow up to be as big a liar.’
Her mother’s lying ways also lead to a bizarre new Thanksgiving tradition – a photo of her son Malcolm holding a turkey leg.
‘She says to John, “You know, it’s so exciting. In my family, with all of our kids, a tradition, we put a drumstick in their hand for their first Thanksgiving when they’re a baby,”‘ Munn said.
‘And then one day it hits me. So, my mom loves to talk. She just talks, talks — one time she spoke to me for 30 minutes about how she doesn’t talk a lot,’ Munn joked.
Munn added, ‘I was like, you know what? It’s staying June. We’re not changing it. So, yeah, she’s kind of in honor of my mother, but I hope she doesn’t grow up to be as big a liar’
Munn attends Apple TV+’s Your Friends & Neighbors New York Premiere at DGA Theater in April in New York City
And John was like, “Oh, that’s cool.” He says to me, “Hey, your mom’s gonna do this thing.” I was like, “That is not a tradition. What is she talking about?”‘ Munn said.
She added that her mother insisted, ‘No, it is a tradition. Every Thanksgiving, for everybody’s first Thanksgiving.”‘
Munn decided to call her siblings, asking, ‘Do we have any photos photos of this? They said, “No, ’cause she’s lying. That’s not true,’ she said with a laugh.
They show the photo of Malcolm, adding, ‘My mom gets her Turkey leg, she puts it there, she pats his hand and goes, “Okay, a new tradition.”‘