Naomi Watts says women are ‘most authentic’ versions of themselves after menopause

Naomi Watts has reflected on going into early perimenopause at age 36, and the feeling of liberation she felt after the experience.

The actor, 54, has launched a new beauty brand named Stripes, which aims to address some of the common symptoms experienced by people going through menopause.

In a new interview with InStyle, The Watcher star said that, while going through the transitional time can be somewhat of a lonely experience, “once you’re on the other side... you get to reclaim yourself”.

“There is a point in time during perimenopause that you do feel like you’re losing yourself, but I would like to see more information about how you do get yourself back,” Watts said.

“And when you get yourself back, you are actually the most authentic version of yourself because you’re not a victim to your hormones anymore.”

Watts revealed she entered early perimenopause aged 36, while shooting the TV show Gypsy.

Perimenopause is the time during which the female body makes the natural transition into menopause, marking the end of the reproductive years. In most women, this happens after the age of 40.

“I was really having a lot of symptoms at that point in time and, luckily, I told my makeup artist that I was having problems sleeping,” Watts said.

“She’s around the same age, and I just needed one person to understand what I was going through. She identified with what I was experiencing and totally wrapped her arms around me. That meant the world to me that she understood having to work up to 16-hour days while dealing with symptoms.”

She recalled feeling a sense of shame around her symptoms, and that when she tried to broach the topic of menopause with friends, she was unsuccessful.

“I just knew it was not a good thing to be walking through the same kind of loneliness and secrecy and shame again,” Watts said.

“I did test the waters with friends out there by cracking jokes about menopause, and they weren’t really met with open ears and empathy. It was just like, let’s move on to the next subject.”

Stripes has launched with a line of 11 products which target a myriad of symptoms from head to toe, such as itchy, dehydrated skin and vaginal dryness.

“We included hair and body stuff, and then the vaginal products because that’s also an area that suffers,” she said.

“One thing people say about menopause is that the libido lessens, and of course it does a little bit because our hormones are not driving our moods anymore.

“But it doesn’t mean we stop thinking about sex or we stop wanting sex; we still have desire. You just have to get a little more organised and put a little more effort into it because women can be put off by sex when things are drying and it becomes painful.”

However, Watts added, “I find, actually, post-menopause, things have been pretty good”.