Menopause is the female health issue most frequently affecting the lives of Australian women
Australian actor Naomi Watts kept quiet about her symptoms because she feared it would cost her work. Now she’s speaking out to help others.
Menopause
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Hollywood star Naomi Watts admits she forgets names of people – and even her movies – because of the menopause, but her worst symptom has been “horrific” itchy, dry and agitated skin.
The 56-year-old Australian actor and menopause awareness advocate, has just released a book, “Dare I Say It: Everything I Wish I’d Known About Menopause” to help break the “code of silence” around the issue.
It comes after a Body+Soul Health of the Nation survey found Australians are stressed, time poor, overweight, and confused by the sheer volume of health advice.
Menopause was singled out in the survey as the female health issue most frequently affecting the lives of women.
The study revealed almost a million women – 936,000 – experienced menopausal symptoms in the past year.
Of those who are affected, four in 10 women feet the impact multiple times a week and one in 10 every day.
At a book launch event in New York, Watts said forgetting names was “humiliating” for women, especially when at work.
When it happens “we just have this panic attack and it unravels and no one knows what’s going on,” Watts said. “Everyone just thinks she’s losing her mind. And yeah, the knock on effect is awful.”
Watts had the added issue of going into menopause early. She was told by her doctor she was on the verge of menopause at the age of 36, as she was trying to start a family with actor Liev Schreiber. They managed to have two kids, but she went into hardcore symptoms, after the birth of her second child aged 40.
She couldn’t speak to friends, as they were not going through it, and she kept quiet at work for fear it would end her career.
“I kept my secret,” Watts said. “I swirled around in an escalating panic and just retreated further and further.”
Dr Lina Safro, head of the education subcommittee of the Australasian Menopause Society, said as well as perimenopausal symptoms – which are those in the lead up to the menopause – women can experience symptoms 10 years or more post menopause.
She regularly hears from women struggling at work due to tiredness, hot flushes, and poor cognitive function. Things like weight gain are another common complaint.
“The best things women can do at this point in time is to get educated and to get healthy,” Dr Safro said. “We know that heart disease, diabetes, and dementia, all increase after menopause. And a lot of these risks can be mitigated by lifestyle measures such as stopping smoking, alcohol needs to be very restricted.
“There needs to be a very specific exercise program which includes doing exercise that maintains the bones and that means resistance, weights, jogging, running up the stairs and looking after the diet.”
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FEMALE HEALTH ISSUES
More than 1 in 2 Gen Z experience negative menstrual issues.
936,000 Gen X women experience menopausal symptoms.
1 in 10 Gen Z experience endometriosis.
1 in 10 menopausal women say it affects their lives every day.
77% with endometriosis say it impacts their lives once a month or more.
Source: GIC Health of the Nation 2025 report
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Originally published as Menopause is the female health issue most frequently affecting the lives of Australian women