Naomi Watts confesses that menopause was a bit of a shock for her.
“It happened far too early for me and I wasn’t prepared,” the 53-year-old actress tells Page Six at the Fragrance Foundation Awards on Thursday night at Lincoln Center. “It was a shock and no one gives you any preparation.
“I did have in the back of my mind that my mother went early but I didn’t know what that meant. I didn’t know that you could have eight years of peri-menopause.”
“I felt very isolated,” she added.
Watts revealed that when menopause hit, “one of my greatest symptoms was really itchy skin and my skin is obviously very important to me because of work on camera. I had multiple other symptoms but that was the one that I need immediate attention.”
“It’s gone on for far too long,” she continued. “Women have been forced to silence themselves and feel ashamed. But it’s been the plan for the body all along. It’s not a failure, it’s not a disease.”
So the Oscar nominee decided to do something about it and has developed a brand with the “intention to support women through this phase of life.”
“I wanted to create a space where people can laugh and cry and bitch and moan and also feel really great about this point in our lives,” “The Ring” actress explained. “We’ve gone through lots of things and we’re still here.”
Watts also wants women to understand that post-menopause is also a “liberating time. You can make choices that are authentic and connected to you.”