Naomi Watts has never shied away from being as open and honest as possible when it comes to sharing elements of her personal life with the public.
To celebrate the book’s release, Naomi took part in a conversation on The Drew Barrymore Show, where she joined Drew, actor Brooke Shields, OBGYN Dr. Suzanne Gilberg-Lenz, and psychiatrist Dr. Judith Joseph to discuss menopause journeys.
On the panel, Naomi explained she went and saw her doctor at age 36 after she was having trouble getting pregnant. It was then that her doctor told her, “It looks like you are close to menopause.” She said it felt “extremely early” and “shocking” to hear that, especially while trying to start a family.
Then, she remembered that her mom had gone into early menopause at 45. When Naomi asked her mom, “What is this? Why didn’t you tell me more?” Her mom replied, “Well, these were the conversations that I didn’t have with my mother, so I never had them with you.”
Outside of the panel discussion, Naomi was also a guest on The Drew Barrymore Show, where she and Drew got to talk more one-on-one about her new book and menopause journey.
In the clip posted to TikTok, Naomi discusses her first sexual encounter with her now-husband, Billy Crudup, while going through menopause.
“I’m not going to embarrass him and talk about it in depth on live TV, but there is a chapter where I explore it and go into detail, but I was mortified because I had my patch on,” Naomi began.
She explained that the adhesive on the patches is typically “very sticky” and “takes ages to get off.” This resulted in her often leaving the “nasty mark” left by the adhesive on her body because it was so hard to scrub off.
Naomi continued, saying that before getting intimate with her now-husband for the first time, she ran off to the bathroom and “panicked,” trying to get the sticky residue left behind by a few patches off her body.
“I was in there too long and then came out sort of like that, frantic, and he said, ‘Are you okay? Are you not in the mood?’,” she recalled.
She said she fumbled for what to say before revealing, “Look, I’m in menopause, and I have this patch, and I’m wearing it, and it leaves this… I’m old, should I just leave?”
Naomi said she was trying so hard to apologize and “shrinking” into herself before Billy finally said, “We’re the same age. We’re the same age. What is this? This is science. How can I help?”
While the clip making the rounds online ends there, Naomi continued in the episode, saying, “Truth can be so liberating. People fear that when they get to this point that the sex is gonna be over, and for some it’s true that your libido goes down. You can get support for things like that.”
She concluded, saying, “But I say I just encourage women to get the communication going. Be honest. Tell them what you’re going through. Most of the time, people wanna help.”
Shortly after the clip was posted on TikTok, people flocked to the comments praising Naomi for having this open and vulnerable discussion in such a public setting. One user wrote, “I’ve NEVER Heard someone talk about the patch and how it affects us 😭😭😭 Thank you ❤️❤️❤️”
People began sharing their own experiences in the comments, too. One TikTok user wrote, “I’m 32 and in menopause. It scares me to date to explain this to someone.” And another didn’t even know the patches were a thing, writing, “I didn’t know there was a patch??”
Many also praised Billy for his response to Naomi in this situation, with the top comment on the video reading, “I have ALWAYS loved Billy Crudup.”
Overall, this is such an important conversation that more women should feel comfortable having, and it’s so refreshing to hear Naomi’s experience.
You can purchase Naomi’s book, Dare I Say It: Everything I Wish I’d Known About Menopause, here, too.
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