Everything We Learned From Naomi Watts’ Memoir About Menopause and Infertility 

Actress and entrepreneur Naomi Watts is digging deep with her fans and followers. The King Kong star’s new book, Dare I Say It: Everything I Wish I’d Known about Menopause, is more than a memoir. Watts, a well-known advocate for women’s health, hopes her book will encourage more fearless conversations about menopause. Read about Watts’ new book and her inspiration behind penning a menopause-focused memoir here. 

All about Naomi Watts’ menopause experience and her new memoir

Watts released her new book, Dare I Say It: Everything I Wish I’d Known about Menopause, on January 21, 2025.  

Deviating from the conventional format of a celebrity memoir, Watts’ book includes her personal story, experiences and advice from friends and experts on menopause. 

The topic and structure of her novel are rooted in Watts’ desire to help women feel less alone in dealing with menopause as a natural stage of aging. 

“Women have had to suffer in silence and shame for too long about the changes they undergo during menopause, with little access to information, support or even much of an open conversation,” Watts told People when she announced the book’s conception and release date.

As a long-standing figure in the menopause health advocacy space, Watts’ notable efforts include writing an introduction for Menopause Is Hot: Everything You Need to Know to Thrive by Mariella Frostrup and Alice Smellie, co-hosting The New Pause Symposium in 2022 and founding Stripes, a menopause-focused brand. 

Naomi Watts’ experience with championing women’s health

Watts’ inspiration behind championing women’s health and menopause specifically comes from her own experiences with perimenopause and menopause in her 30s. 

“The most unpleasant symptom I experienced was sleeplessness,” said Watts while discussing her early experience with menopause. “When you don’t sleep, you can’t concentrate, you get brain fog, you get migraines, you get anxiety, you get stressed and depressed.”

Perimenopause and menopause also negatively impacted Watts’ fertility. 

Naomi Watts’ experience with infertility

Watts, who now shares two kids with ex Liev Schreiber, describes her tumultuous journey to conceive—such as her ineligibility for IVF and struggles with fertility drugs—in her book.

“I would have eaten my dog’s toenails if someone told me it would help,” Watts wrote about the trials she faced while trying for a baby with Schreiber in her 30s.

She writes of her long-held dream to be a young mother that never manifested because she “spent [her] entire adult life up to that point trying to avoid pregnancy,” and that once she felt ready, the path was far less smooth than anticipated. 

“Once I felt ready, at age 36, I assumed I’d get pregnant on my first go—maybe my second or third at most. Months went by. Nothing,” wrote Watts.

She and Schreiber finally welcomed their two children when Watts was aged 38 and 40. 

“My body somehow learned the program to make babies,” Watts wrote. 

Naomi Watts’ wellness brand ‘Stripes’

Watts is the owner of Stripes Beauty, a beauty and wellness brand focused on destigmatizing conversations about menopause. 

When speaking to Fashionista at the time of Stripes’ launch back in 2022, Watts said, “[menopause] is not the end of life where we should be invisible and irrelevant. It’s the beginning of something wonderful, actually — we’ve earned this time, we’ve earned our stripes.”

In addition to facial serums and body oils, Stripes features a line of vaginal wellness products. Watts’ one-stop-shop for all things women’s health strives not only to conveniently serve consumers but to also “get rid of shame,” associated with vaginal care.

A reflection of its’ founder’s firm belief that education is key to removing the taboo around menopause, Stripes’s website also includes access to two menopause information hubs: Menoguides — a blog-style landing page with articles on women’s health topics — and Adulted which Stripes calls, “a wellness magazine for actual grown-ups.”