In an interview with Ocean Drive magazine, Olivia Munn reveals some intimate details about her childhood and the verbal abuse she suffered from her stepfather, who she refers to as “The Devil.”

Munn’s mother, Kim Schmid separated from Munn’s biological father and later remarried by the time Munn was 2-years-old. Her stepfather, a former Air Force officer relocated the family constantly before settling in Japan.

The actress described her stepfather  as abusive, dictatorial, and demeaning. Munn and her siblings would be subjected to intense periods of anger and consistent verbal abuse.

“He would always say, ‘You’re not smart enough, pretty enough, you have no talent,’” Munn explained. “It would knock me down, but it wouldn’t keep me down.”

Munn eventually learned how to cope with these ugly encounters at home, and in the process, she discovered a hidden knack for acting.

“When he would be screaming his head off in the living room, I would hustle everybody into my room and launch into imitation of teachers or do scenes from movies,” she recalled. “And that would take their minds off of the hell that was happening down the hall.”

After a few years of abuse, Munn’s mother finally divorced her husband and the entire family moved back to Oklahoma.

Her mom’s advice to her was always clear, “Always make a name for yourself, don’t just become someone’s wife.”

And after graduating from the University of Oklahoma, Munn finally went into acting and did what she does best: making people laugh.

“I think people downplay just how important it is to be entertaining,” she says. “Especially in this day and age. We need to laugh, we need an escape from what is going on. It’s always been a lifesaver for me.”

Check out Olivia’s Halloween performance on G4.