Olivia Munn Doesn't Let Her Kids Watch Ms. Rachel

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08-06-2025

Olivia Munn won't let her kids watch Ms. Rachel.
In an interview with People, the Your Friends & Neighbors actor shared why she doesn't let her children watch Ms. Rachel's videos or most children's programs, and it's pretty reasonable.
Ms. Rachel is a popular YouTuber and Netflix star, famous for making videos that help kids with language development.
Olivia has two children, whom she shares with husband John Mulaney — Malcolm, 3, and Méi, 8 months.
"I know kids love [Ms. Rachel], but the thing is, if I can't watch it, I'm not going to spend the rest of my life going crazy," Olivia said. "These kid shows drive me crazy."
For Olivia, it's not just Ms. Rachel. She's not here for most cartoons in the household. "Malcolm asked for Blue's Clues [recently], and I don't know who showed him Blue's Clues, but they are on my shit list now," Olivia said. "I said, 'Hell no. Not in my house.'"
Olivia described how John got Malcolm into the Spider-Man cartoons, which she didn't find "interesting." Her preference is the updated live-action movies. "I put on Tom Holland's Spider-Man: Homecoming and was like, 'If you want to watch the real-life ones, then we can watch that.' It might be a little too old for him, but I can't take the cartoons."
But don't worry. There's at least one children's show that makes the cut with Mama Olivia, and that's the PBS children's show Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood for one specific reason.
She believes it's a "great program" because it was vital in helping Malcolm understand what it's like to become a big brother to Méi, who was welcomed via surrogate last September. "Daniel Tiger has a little sister, and we'd tell him, 'There's a baby sister coming,'" Olivia said.
Even though the typical children's programming might not be on the television when Olivia's around, she's found a system that works for their family. Talking with People, she said when she first introduced Méi to her big brother, she and John made a point not to "change his world and indentity and responsiblities."
"A lot of times people will be like, 'Oh, you're a big brother now. You're not the baby anymore. Now you can help mommy get the diapers.' So, all of a sudden, he has all these responsibilities, and he doesn't just get to be carefree anymore," Olivia added. "Instead, we would say, 'Now we have two babies. There's baby Méi Méi and baby Malcolm.'"
In the interview, Olivia shared that she and John focus on providing their children equal attention, so, in my opinion, it makes sense that she might not want to throw that balance off with too much Ms. Rachel and animated Spider-Man.
Olivia said about her 3-year-old son, "He would say, 'Mommy, come over here. Daddy, come over here,' and if we were holding the baby, we would put her down so that he wouldn't feel that all of a sudden now we can't be there for him."
"It's not that we were trying to teach him that everything he says goes, but we wanted him to have the transition with her to know that we're still here whenever he needs us. Then, eventually when he'd say, 'Put Méi Méi down,' we'd say, 'No, she wants to see her mommy too.' He smiles, and he understands," Olivia said.
It sounds like Olivia has a system down, and Ms. Rachel (as popular as she may be) might not be for every family. And to be honest, I support Olivia keeping cartoons outside of the house for now, especially when her husband is literally part of a cartoon series that has scenes like this:
And this:
Perhaps they should wait until Malcolm and Méi are full-grown adults before they start showing them cartoons, in case they become interested in their dad's show.
Read the full interview here.