LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Actress Naomi Watts has been very vocal about menopause and how it can be extremely difficult. The ‘King Kong’ actress recently opened up about how she experienced menopause when she was just 36!
Watts also elaborated on how it nobody really spoke about it, mentioning that enough material about the subject was not available and sometimes even doctors could not help, Watts also propounded the idea that self-acknowledgment and being comfortable in one’s body could be seen as the initial steps of accepting the changes.
Is Naomi Watts ill?
Watts admitted feeling like she was “spiraling out of control” when she was 36 when she started undergoing menopause. Usually, women undergo menopause between 45 and 55 years of age. However, in Watts' case, it came earlier, subsequently causing a strain, physically and mentally.
In an interview with Hello! Magazine, Watts recounted, "Going through menopause at such a young age was not easy, especially during a time when there was so little information available about it,” adding, "Mood swings, night sweats, and migraines…I was feeling like I was spiraling out of control."
Since there was a dearth of comprehensive knowledge about this natural phenomenon, it made it even more difficult for Watts to cope with all that was happening. However, she decided to be her "own best advocate" to make up for the lack of information. She realized she was in need of "seeking help and understanding more about what was happening to survive the "challenging period of adjustment."
The 54-year-old actress said, "Going through this journey led me to a deeper understanding of myself, and I came out on the other side feeling more authentically me.” She said that self-ackowledgement and the “desire to be authentic” encouraged her to embrace the natural progression of life. "A lot of freedom came in the self-acknowledgement,” she said,
Watts recalled, “I had those voices in the back of my mind reminding me how old women are let out to pasture, but there was a lure to this desire to be authentic, to crawl from behind the invisible wall and just acknowledge for myself something that everyone could have probably guessed."
'I feel like the best version of myself now'
After undergoing menopause, Watts has become a vocal activist on the topic. Since she did not receive the help and awareness she required on the subject, she took it upon herself to start a venture that would answer all queries regarding the topic. In an interview with Women’s Health, she said, “When I arrived at [the transition], the marketplace of products and information was lonely, scary, painful…and shameful. I would look for books to learn more, but I felt I had to hide them, and even my friends were nervous to talk about it.”
Watts was then inspired enough to launch Stripes, a skincare and wellness brand that produces beauty and sexual wellness products specially created for women in the perimenopausal and menopausal stages. She said about the new phase of her life, “I feel like the best version of myself now—I’m so much more confident in my body.”
Watts is also vocal about having an active sex life after menopause too. The ‘The Impossible’ actress, who recently got married to Billy Crudup, further said in the interview, “I may not be able to reproduce anymore, but I enjoy a healthy sex life and partnership. At Stripes we like to say, ‘Closed for business, but open for pleasure.’” She shares two children, Kai and Sasha, with ex-boyfriend Liev Schreiber.
