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The Powerful Lesson Jamie Foxx Taught Olivia Munn About Love

On Busy Tonight, the actress shares a story about her "big brother" in Hollywood

By Zach Johnson Nov 07, 2018 2:10 PMTags

Everyone could use a friend like Jamie Foxx.

When Olivia Munn stopped by E!'s Busy Tonight Tuesday, the 38-year-old actress shared the sage dating advice the 50-year-old actor once gave her. Friends since 2010, Munn said she and Foxx first clicked after meeting at a Super Bowl party through their agents. "He became a big brother to me immediately," Munn explained to Busy Philipps. "He's been such a great friend."

That's an understatement. Without naming anyone, Munn recalled how she once dated an actor on the D.L. for a few months. Although they hadn't defined their relationship, she was all in. "I was official, but I was waiting for him to say it. But, it wasn't going to happen," the Predator star said with a laugh. One night, she and her mystery man attended a party—"we were keeping it cool"—when things went south. "I'm on one side of this party and he's on the other side, talking to different girls and stuff, and I'm feeling so depressed. I decided to leave early, and then Jamie stops me and he's like, 'Where are you going?'" Foxx pieced everything together after seeing her glance at her secret beau and asked, "Is he the reason you're leaving?"

At the time, Munn was in denial. "He didn't do anything wrong. I really want him to be my boyfriend, but I don't think that's what he wants," she recalled saying. "I'm going to go home."

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Foxx promised to check in with Munn later, as he was concerned about what the relationship had done to her. "He's like, 'Go home. I'm going to call you later—and if you don't pick up, I'm going to leave you a voicemail!'" Munn told Philipps. "The next morning, I got a call from Jamie. He left a voicemail and said, 'Did you come out here to be somebody's girlfriend? No! Did you come out here to be somebody's wife? No! Did you come out here just to date this guy? No! Did you come out here to be an actress? Yes! Don't you ever, let me see you cry about some guy like that ever again! Don't you ever let some other guy make you feel like that ever again!'"

The voicemail was exactly what Munn needed to hear at the time. "It was so sweet. He was just so earnest. He was like, 'I never want to see you let any man make you feel that small again," she said. "Every now and then, [his message] would pop into my head—and, of course, it kind of veered off sometimes—but I'll think about that sometimes, and it brings me back to center."

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