At 36, Naomi Watts had never heard of “perimenopause” — even after she was diagnosed with it.
“That word was never mentioned to me — that nice, softer word that is around a lot today,” Watts, now 57, told Business Insider at Meno Café, a weekend-long pop-up event in New York hosted by Stripes, Watts’ menopause-focused beauty and sexual wellness brand.
Since then, Watts has taken a lead role in advancing conversations around menopause, which is when a woman hasn’t had her period in 12 consecutive months, usually between the ages of 45 and 55. In 2022, she founded Stripes, and earlier this year, she published “Dare I Say It,” her tell-all memoir about navigating perimenopause symptoms, including infertility when trying to conceive her two children.
Watts said dismissive attitudes toward menopause have thankfully started to change since her own journey began two decades ago.
“The internet was not that active…the community wasn’t there,” Watts said during a panel at Meno Café. “I felt lonely. I felt scared, and I felt ashamed. I felt like this was the end, and that is not true.”
Symptoms like brain fog made her job harder
Watts had just wrapped filming “King Kong” in 2005 and had planned on starting a family when she learned she was approaching menopause.
“That kind of news knocked me sideways,” Watts told Business Insider after the panel discussion.
While she said her real focus at the time was trying to get pregnant with her then-partner Liev Schreiber, whom she split with in 2016 after having two kids, menopause symptoms were “disruptive” to her career, too.
“Sometimes remembering lines becomes a lot harder,” Watts said of experiencing brain fog as a result of perimenopause. She also said she had night sweats and struggled to fall asleep, which she said led to depression, anxiety, and mood swings.
Then there was her dry skin, which she said inspired her to create her brand.
“I didn’t realize dry, irritable, itchy, angry skin was related to menopause in any way,” she said, which happens as estrogen levels start to decline.
A taboo even in close circles
Being diagnosed in her mid-30s, more than 10 years earlier than the average age of perimenopause at 47, Watts realized her friends couldn’t relate to what she was going through.
“I certainly tried to crack jokes to see if anyone was out there, like, ‘Oh, I’m having an estrogen dip,'” Watts said. The response she often got — people turning their heads away or answering with a brisk “Oh!” — told her “the conversation was closed.”
Watts retreated more and more, particularly as she dealt with fertility challenges. She said she read “Inconceivable,” a memoir about infertility, in secret.” Eventually, she had two children: Kai, now 16, and Sasha Schreiber, now 18, with her then-partner.
It wasn’t until she reached her mid-40s, closer to the standard age of menopause, that she said she became comfortable with being vocal about her experience.
“It’s a sin to age in our industry,” Watts told Business Insider.
From shame to an exciting new chapter
Watts, who married Billy Crudup in 2023, said he encouraged her to start owning her menopause symptoms.
“He was like, ‘That’s so punk rock,'” Watts said during the Meno Café panel.
If she’s learned anything, it’s that menopause doesn’t need to be framed negatively.
“Half the population is going to go into menopause if we’re lucky enough, if we’re living long enough,” Watts told Business Insider.
“I’ve done a lot of things in my 50s for the first time, like writing a book, launching a company, and getting married,” she said. “I just think we shouldn’t be afraid.”
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