“I was spiralling”: Naomi Watts’ candid menopause admission
Naomi Watts has spoken candidly about how her life drastically changed when she started going through early menopause at the age of 36.
The Aussie actress, now 54, said going through such a big change at such a young age “wasn’t easy”, and found it difficult to access information about what she was going through, both physically and mentally.
Speaking candidly to Hello magazine, she said, “Going through menopause at such a young age was not easy, especially during a time when there was so little information available about it.”
“Mood swings, night sweats, and migraines … I was feeling like I was spiralling out of control,” she added.
According to the Mayo Clinic, menopause typically occurs at the age of 50, when a woman experiences her last period.
Despite the change coming on much earlier than anticipated, Watts said learning to cope with the hormonal changes helped her feel more liberated.
“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 told Page Six.
“A lot of freedom came in the self-acknowledgment.”
She continued, “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.”
Watts’ personal experience led her to partner with Menopause Mandate, a non-profit organisation that aims to revolutionise midlife support available for American women.
“I truly believe that if menopause hadn’t been such an off-limits topic when I first started experiencing symptoms, I would’ve had an easier transition,” she said.
“I was part of a cycle that desperately needed to be broken.”
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