Tragic Things About Mila Kunis That Will Break Your Heart
The following article includes references to sexual assault.
Mila Kunis is well known for her stunning good looks, her high-profile marriage, and her enviable acting career. Whether fans know her as the ditzy but lovable Jackie Burkhart on "That '70s Show," her long-running stint as the voice of Meg Griffin on "Family Guy," devious wild child ballerina Lily in "Black Swan," or her numerous other roles, it is clear she is a star.
But all that glitters is not gold – Mila Kunis has had to suffer through many difficult times beginning in childhood and throughout her personal life and career. Although she starred in 2022's "The Luckiest Girl Alive," Kunis' real-life story makes her seem like anything but. From dealing with bullies to surviving health scares and political unrest that hit close to home, Kunis has proved time and again that she is as resilient as she is talented.
Mila Kunis' family fled Ukraine because of antisemitism
Mila Kunis was born in 1983 in the Ukrainian city of Chernivtsi. Kunis, who is Jewish, had relatives who had survived the Holocaust, and antisemitism continued to be an oppressive force in Ukraine. As she told The Sun, her school was tagged with antisemitic graffiti. In second grade, she had a friend who found a swastika on the back of her chair. "After the Holocaust, in Russia you were not allowed to be religious," Kunis explained. "So my parents raised me to know I was Jewish. You know who you are inside."
Kunis' great-uncle emigrated to the United States before she was born, which eventually led to her grandfather moving as well. "[Disneyland], of all places, transformed his perspective on the possibilities of the West," Kunis shared with People. "He came back to Russia and said, 'We're leaving.'" When Kunis was 7 years old, she, her brother Michael, her father Mark, and her mother Elvira all relocated to the U.S.
She had a hard time adjusting to life in the U.S.
Disneyland may have played a part in Mila Kunis' extended family moving to the U.S., but the actor's life in a new country was not exactly a fairytale. In fact, assimilating to her new surroundings was so difficult for her that she says she has no memory of that time. "I blocked out second grade completely. I have no recollection of it," Kunis told The Los Angeles Times. She continued, saying, "I cried every day. I didn't understand the culture. I didn't understand the people. I didn't understand the language."
One of the things that helped Kunis find her footing also ended up paving the way for her future success: acting. "My English was a little janky. I didn't have very many friends. And there was this place advertised on the radio as a place for kids to meet other kids — an acting class," she shared with GQ.
The class turned out to be a positive thing for Kunis' mom and dad, too. "My parents couldn't afford a babysitter," Kunis explained. "They said, 'Great, that takes up our Saturday.'" Kunis' talent must have been evident because she began acting in commercials at the age of 9, which led to films roles like 1995's "Piranha" and "Make a Wish Molly."
Mila Kunis was bullied for her looks
It's hard to believe that Mila Kunis, with her striking beauty, was not always happy with her looks. In fact, the actor, who was voted Sexiest Woman Alive by Esquire and Sexiest Woman in the World by FHM, was actually bullied as a child for her unique features.
Kunis revealed she had always been the smallest kid in her classes and that her schoolmates taunted her for the way she looked. "I had a very funny-looking face when I was little. I had like big eyes, big lips, big ears," Kunis shared with OK! Magazine (via Daily Mail). She continued, saying, "I was constantly being made fun of for having big eyes and that was awful. I used to come home crying: 'Why do I have big eyes?' And my parents were like: 'You're crazy!'"
Kunis seemed to acknowledge that the features her classmates picked on are now seen as an asset. "I grew into my face," the actor said. She eventually put the bullying behind her. "'I've learned it wasn't a bad thing to be picked on because when you're little [it] seems awful, like it's the end of the world."
The circumstances surrounding her first kiss were disturbing
There are few milestones as memorable as a first kiss. Mila Kunis may never forget her first, but for all the wrong reasons. For one, it was part of a scene in "That '70s Show," which was filmed when Kunis was just 14 and her onscreen boyfriend, Ashton Kutcher, was 19. "I've never kissed a guy. Ashton's attractive, and I was a 14-year-old little girl and I was extremely scared for my life," Kunis revealed in a 2002 interview (via EW).
In the same interview, Kutcher admitted to feeling a bit weird about it as well. "They were like, 'You guys are going to be making out in this scene.' And I'm thinking wait, this is slightly illegal," he said. And to make matters creepier, co-star Danny Masterson, who was later convicted of two counts of rape, bet Kutcher $20 to make the kiss a little more intimate. "You're kissing on the show, we're boyfriend and girlfriend. You would use tongue. Danny bet me like 20 bucks I wouldn't do it," Kutcher admitted.
The two actors bantered over whether Kutcher went through with the bet, with Kunis saying, "I didn't let him, but I think he tried." Kunis and Kutcher are now married and share two children together; however, that doesn't make the circumstances surrounding their first kiss any less disturbing.
Mila Kunis sustained multiple injuries while training for Black Swan
In 2010, Mila Kunis starred in the acclaimed film "Black Swan" as Lily, a ballerina with a wild side, opposite Natalie Portman's prim and naïve Nina. Kunis was nominated for several awards for her performance, including a Golden Globe and a Critic's Choice Award, and she won the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress. She and Portman were even nominated for Best Kiss at the MTV Movie & TV Awards and the Teen Choice Awards. The accolades she received were numerous, but Kunis' training took a serious toll on her health.
In a 2011 interview with W, Kunis admitted that she had never danced before "Black Swan" and found practice grueling. "I trained for four months, seven days a week, five hours a day. I had one day off on my birthday," she said. And that intensive training led to a host of physical issues. "I lost 20 pounds," Kunis said. "I tore a ligament. I dislocated my shoulder. I have two scars on my back."
Although the actor expressed that playing Lily had been worth it, she also said that she would never dance again. "I'm a strong believer in mind over matter, but I didn't fully understand what that meant until this production. I was like, 'Well — I wear heels; I can do this.' I was wrong ... I screamed the first time I put on a pointe shoe," Kunis confessed.
Her breakup with Macaulay Culkin was 'horrible'
Because many fans are so used to seeing Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher together, first as love interests on "That '70s Show," and then as husband and wife, it's easy to forget that Kunis also had a serious relationship with actor Macaulay Culkin. In fact, the pair dated for nearly eight years, having met in 2002.
Although the couple valued their privacy, Kunis opened up about their relationship in a 2007 interview with Parade. "We like to read books or play video games or watch TV or go to the movies. And he's an amazing cook," she said. Kunis went on to gush over her then-boyfriend, telling the magazine, "He's an amazing, simple guy, who is probably the most brilliant person I've ever met. He's so, so smart and so aware and so kind and so sweet."
Nevertheless, the relationship wasn't built to last and the pair split in 2011. According to Kunis, her breakup with Culkin was a bad one, and she blamed herself. In an episode of "The Armchair Expert" podcast with host Dax Shephard, Kunis admitted, "I had a horrible, horrible breakup. ... I f***ed up. I was an a**hole in my 20s and I'll be the first to admit it."
Luckily, Culkin was able to bounce back from the breakup. In 2017, he began dating fellow actor Brenda Song, with whom he now shares two children.
A chronic illness left Mila Kunis partially blind
Among Mila Kunis' physical attributes that make her stand out are her beautiful eyes, unique in that her left eye and right eye are not the same color. But the reason for Kunis' unusual eye color is not so glamorous. While having two different colored eyes, called heterochromia, can be harmless, Kunis' heterochromia is caused by iritis. According to Cedars-Sinai, chronic iritis is an autoimmune disorder that can cause eye pain, light sensitivity, headache, and decreased vision. The latter affected Kunis to a serious degree.
"I was blind in one eye for many years," Kunis revealed to Cosmopolitan in 2011 (via Today). "I'm not blind anymore. I had surgery a couple of months ago. They cut it open and dropped a new lens in there." Kunis also shared that she kept her partial blindness a secret until she was able to have corrective surgery.
A hacking scandal led to rumors about her and Justin Timberlake
In 2011, Mila Kunis fell victim to a celebrity hacking scandal known as "Operation Hackerazzi." The hacker accessed the personal accounts of Kunis and other A-list stars, including Christina Aguilera and Scarlett Johansson. According to TMZ, no nude photographs of Kunis were leaked; however, a photo of her in a bathtub, in which just her head was visible, was shared. The outlet also reported that the hacker had turned up photos of Justin Timberlake on Kunis' phone, as well as text messages between the two, sparking rumors of a tryst.
Both Kunis and Timberlake denied any salacious exchanges between them. In a statement shared with People, reps for Kunis and Timberlake were adamant that nothing untoward had occurred. "At no time did Mr. Timberlake and Ms. Kunis exchange inappropriate texts or emails. ... The insistence that there is any inappropriate correspondence between the two parties is entirely false," the joint statement read in part. The statement also denied that the hacker had accessed Kunis' phone, claiming instead that the photos were from an inactive email account.
In 2012, the hacker, Christopher Chaney, was sentenced to 10 years in prison. The sentencing judge, S. James Otero, made it clear that the invasion of privacy was no joke, telling the media, "These types of crimes are as pernicious and serious as physical stalking" (via CBS News).
Mila Kunis helped her husband, Ashton Kutcher, through a terrifying health scare
In 2022, Mila Kunis opened up about the health scare that afflicted her husband, actor Ashton Kutcher, some three years earlier. Kunis explained to ET that her husband suffered a flare-up of a rare autoimmune disorder that causes inflammation of the blood vessels. Kutcher went into detail about the scary time during an episode of "Running Wild with Bear Grylls: The Challenge," explaining, "I had this weird, super rare form of vasculitis, that like knocked out my vision, it knocked out my hearing, it knocked out like all my equilibrium" (via ET). He continued, saying, "It took me like a year to build it all back up."
During that year, Kunis was by his side and as resilient as ever. "You kind of just power through," she told ET. You go and deal with whatever health issue comes your way, but you still have kids, you still have a family, and you have to live life."
Kutcher appears to be in better health these days, but after his frightening experience, the husband of "The Luckiest Girl Alive" star counts himself "lucky to be alive."
She was heartbroken over Russia's invasion of Ukraine
In February 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine after years of escalating conflict between the two countries. The event hit Mila Kunis hard, as she was born in Ukraine and lived there with her family until emigrating to the U.S. when she was 7 years old.
During an interview with Maria Shriver on "Conversations Above the Noise," Kunis shared her devastation over the conflict, telling the journalist, "I can't express or explain what came over me but all of a sudden ... I was like, 'Oh, my God, I feel like a part of my heart just got ripped out.' It was the weirdest feeling."
The heartbreak moved Kunis to take action. She and her husband Ashton Kutcher started a GoFundMe to raise money in order to house Ukrainian refugees and send supplies to refugee sites. As of January 2024, the couple had raised over $37 million. "Ukrainians are proud and brave people who deserve our help in their time of need," Kunis wrote on the GoFundMe page.
Mila Kunis supported Danny Masterson – a tragic disappointment for fans
Much to the disappointment of their fans, Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher wrote character letters in support of Danny Masterson ahead of his trial in September 2023. Masteron had been charged with three counts of rape and was ultimately convicted on two counts and sentenced to 30 years to life behind bars. Kunis, Kutcher, and Masterson all starred together on "That '70s Show" from 1998 until 2006 and remained close in the ensuing years.
Kunis and Kutcher were roundly criticized for participating in Masterson's defense, so much so that they took to Instagram and issued a public apology. "We support victims. We have done this historically through our work and will continue to do so in the future," Kunis states in the video. But public relations expert Beth Booker told Today that the couple's apology was likely to do more harm than good. "They weren't apologizing for writing the letters. ... They were apologizing that they got caught," Booker stated.
Whether or not Kunis and her husband understood the implications they would face in defending Masterson, they were seemingly willing to take steps to mitigate the bad press. In the wake of the public criticism, Kutcher resigned from his position at Thorn, an organization that fights child sex abuse, which he co-founded in 2009 with ex-wife Demi Moore. Kunis, who held a position on the board at Thorn, stepped down as well.
If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, help is available. Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).