Naomi Watts wants to stop the 'stigma' surrounding the menopause

5 October 2022

Naomi Watts wants to stop the "stigma" surrounding the menopause.

Naomi Watts calls for women to have pride in the menopause

The 54-year-old actress - who has children Sasha, 15, and 13-year-old Kai with ex-partner Liev Schreiber - explained that her mother Myfanwy had always felt "invisible" when her reproductive cycles ended and now that Naomi is at that stage in life herself, she has called for women to "embrace" the natural change with pride.

She said: "My mom always talked about this feeling of, ‘I’m invisible, because my reproductive life is over,’ and that’s just not OK. We’re still here, We’re still able to bounce back. And, really, we wanted for a woman to feel like they can take ownership of this time in their life and embrace it with vibrancy and pride. No shame, no stigma and no confusion, because frankly there have been so many different conflicting theories, and still to this day, when I ask certain doctors the same question, they’ll have different viewpoints.."

In order to inspire other women to feel the same, the 'Diana' actress has launched a wellness brand named Stripes, which offers a "holistic" approach" to menopause.

She told UsWeekly: "I wanted to create a line that really spoke to women at this phase of their lives, not just in the bottle sense but in the whole holistic approach to help them feel seen. That was very clear to me to speak to the invisible part, that there was no community that was really open to discuss it. And as women, we do have those places throughout the pain points in our lives or the fearful points, whether it’s fertility or birth or once the baby’s come."

Naomi made her name by playing aspiring actress Betty Elms in the David Lynch film 'Mulholland Drive' back in 2001 when she was 33 years old and previously revealed that she was told at the time that her career would be over by the age of 40.

She said: "I was told [taps an imaginary watch], 'You better get a lot done because it's all over at 40 when you become un-f***able.' And I'm like, 'What? What does that mean exactly?' Then you think about it, and you go, 'Oh, right. When you are no longer reproductive, when those organs are no longer functioning, you are not sexy, so, therefore, you are not hirable.' That just made me so mad."