Naomi Watts Talks Menopause – ‘I Was Crying in the Bathroom, Trying to Scratch Off My Estrogen Patch’ – Recalls Being Told She ‘Freaked People Out’ Early in Her Career: ‘Yeah, No Shit. I Was Desperate, Behind on My Rent and Getting Evicted’

Naomi Watts is today recognized as one of the most versatile and celebrated actors of her generation, commanding the screen with nuance, emotional depth, and striking resilience. However, during a career-spanning masterclass at the Zurich Film Festival, where she was honored with the prestigious Golden Eye Award, the Oscar-nominated star candidly opened up about the grueling decade of hardship, rejection, and near-eviction that preceded her breakthrough.

Looking back at the tumultuous early years of her career, Watts shared the stark reality of trying to break into the industry without a safety net or immediate success. Long before working with visionary auteurs or headlining major international blockbusters, she faced a constant struggle just to keep a roof over her head.

“It was a grind. That 10 years before I met David, I became so locked up and I felt worthless,” Watts recalled to the audience in Zurich. The pressure to succeed manifested in ways that ultimately hindered her auditions, leading to an intervention from her representation at the time. “My agent pulled me aside and she said: ‘We need to have a heart to heart. Honey, you are too intense. You are freaking people out.’ I went: ‘Yeah, no shit.’ I was desperate! I was behind on my rent; I was getting evicted. I didn’t know what to bring to this room.”

This desperation sparked a cycle of self-doubt and performative desperation. Watts described how she constantly tried to mold herself into whatever casting directors or agents suggested she lacked, losing touch with her authentic self in the process.

“They told me I wasn’t funny last week, so now I am trying to be funny. They told me I wasn’t sexy — I’m trying to be sexy. You reshape yourself and try to read the tone of what is needed. That’s how it went and I couldn’t be myself anymore. I was either an extreme version of myself or a diluted version of myself,” she explained.

The turning point, she noted, required someone uniquely capable of cutting through the noise and anxiety she had accumulated. It took a singular artistic force to dismantle the protective armor she had built around herself. “It took a genius like David Lynch to see beyond all that weirdness I built up, undo it and get to the real me.”

Despite the intense psychological toll of those early years, Watts believes that her upbringing—which involved frequent relocations during her childhood—instilled in her a foundational resilience that kept her moving forward. Central to her endurance was a deep, unwavering passion for the craft of acting itself rather than a superficial desire for celebrity.

“You also have to know why you love it. Are you in it for the right reasons? My goal wasn’t just to be famous. I loved disappearing into these characters. I really cared and continued to investigate. I still do. There’s always more to learn,” she said.

Reflecting on the dry spells that defined her twenties, Watts emphasized how precarious an actor’s journey can be, noting that success rarely follows a predictable path. During those discouraging years, words of encouragement from close friend and fellow actor Nicole Kidman offered a glimmer of hope, even if their full meaning took years to materialize.

“She said: ‘All it takes is one thing, one thing could change everything.’ That didn’t make sense to me for a very long time. Until David Lynch, and then it became very real,” Watts remembered.

That transformative moment arrived with David Lynch’s 2001 psychological masterpiece Mulholland Drive, a film that is now universally regarded as her definitive breakout role. The project not only redefined her career trajectory but also left an indelible mark on cinematic history.

“That film gave me the most incredible role that affected people. To this day they still watch it. It’s still on these ‘bests’ lists. I’m just very, very proud to be a part of that film,” Watts shared.

The success of Mulholland Drive suddenly thrust Watts into a new echelon of Hollywood visibility, leading almost immediately to a very different kind of project: Gore Verbinski’s horror classic The Ring. Despite the film’s eventual status as a defining horror hit of the 2000s, Watts initially resisted taking the part.

“I tried to say ‘no.’ There’s no certainty to anything you do, ever,” she admitted, recounting her hesitation to pivot away from prestigious, critically acclaimed drama straight into a commercial studio picture. “My agents were excited about this. I said: ‘Wait. I just got this critical acclaim, so I want to instantly go into a Hollywood blockbuster-y movie?!’ I fought with my agent at the time. I didn’t know it was going to be a massive hit! I woke up the horror genre, in a way. It was a lucky, lucky break.”

Following The Ring, Watts continued to challenge herself with demanding, emotionally heavy roles, including her tour-de-force performance in Alejandro González Iñárritu’s 21 Grams, which earned her an Academy Award nomination. Speaking about the grueling nature of that shoot, she remarked, “Extraordinary things can happen when you get tired and irritable from doing things too much.”

Throughout her extensive filmography, Watts has frequently gravitated toward complex themes that mirror her own personal history. Grief and identity, she noted, remain the central pillars of her artistic exploration.

“If there’s any theme in my work, it’s grief. It’s why I do what I do: I’m trying to figure out the meaning of my life. Another one is identity. I love the story [that asks]: ‘Who are you?’ That also comes from my moving around as a kid. I was always on the outskirts of the group, trying to find my way in,” she explained.

These lifelong explorations of identity and hidden struggles heavily informed her work in Ben Shirinian’s 1960s-set film The Housewife, in which she portrays a seemingly picture-perfect woman harboring a dark post-war past.

“I never played a character like this, even though I look for flawed women and I’m not afraid of unlikeable. But this was extreme,” Watts said of the challenging role. “I knew what I was stepping into. I knew it was going to be a daunting, haunting understanding. A character like that comes to you at night, in your dreams.”

As the masterclass drew to a close, Watts offered deeper reflections on personal growth, overcoming self-doubt, and the liberation that comes with embracing vulnerability later in life. She confessed that letting go of the constant need for external validation was a difficult lesson to learn.

“Vulnerability is a superpower. It has taken me a long time to know that, and own that. I wish I’d learn earlier on to be more myself and [care] less about pleasing people. Some people are born with that level of confidence — I was never that person,” she said. “I still have a lot of self-doubt, but I don’t pretend it’s not a real thing. I try to see it as a gift. It’s more effective than just bullshitting your way through it all.”

Beyond her artistic endeavors, Watts has increasingly used her platform to speak openly about natural biological transitions that are often subjected to societal stigma, most notably menopause. Experiencing early menopause without initial guidance or understanding proved to be a challenging isolating phase, until open communication with her partner—actor and now-husband Billy Crudup—helped shift her perspective.

“Menopause became a huge topic of conversation, because I went through it early on in my life and had no clue what was happening with my body. Once I talked about it with my partner, who is now my husband, and he was supportive, I went: ‘How about I just own the story?’ I’m in on the joke, although it’s not actually a joke. Why do we just suffer, instead of getting some normalcy? Just own it,” she said.

Recalling the vulnerable moment she first confided in Crudup while struggling with her symptoms in the bathroom, Watts remembered her fears of judgment quickly dissipating in the face of his compassion.

“I was crying in the bathroom, trying to scratch off my estrogen patch. I told him what was going on, so nervous, and I thought: ‘He’s not gonna want to be with me anymore!’ He said: ‘Hold on. It’s great that you are taking care of yourself. Why are you ashamed?’ It was so sweet… And sexy. I felt safer than I ever felt.”

This empowering realization ultimately inspired her to found Stripes Beauty, a brand specifically created to support women navigating perimenopause and menopause. Concluding her thoughts on the subject, Watts emphasized the importance of collective dialogue and mutual understanding.

“Men have to be curious and compassionate. And our job, ladies, is to share the story.”