Actress Naomi Watts’ New Memoir on Menopause: ‘Dare I Say It’ Coming in 2025
Actress and entrepreneur Naomi Watts is digging deep with her fans and followers. The King Kong star announced the release of her new book, Dare I Say It: Everything I Wish I'd Known about Menopause, hitting shelves in January, 2025. More than a memoir, Watts, a well-known advocate for women’s health, hopes her book will encourage more fearless conversations about menopause. Read all 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 is set to release 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 will include her personal story along with experiences and advice from friends and experts on menopause.
The topic and structure of her novel is 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 as 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.
At age 36, doctors told her she was unlikely to conceive due to her perimenopause. Watts was frustrated by lack of resources for women going through these sorts of health tribulations saying: “I went into complete panic, felt very lonely, very much less-than or like some kind of failure and what was I going to do? There was no one to talk to, there was no information.”
Watts ended up conceiving naturally twice in her 30s, but knew there was still work left to do in helping women navigate menopause and its impacts on their health. "I just knew that this is a road that no one else should have to walk through alone again without a community, because without proper care taken you are going to turn in on yourself,” said Watts.
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.”
Keep scrolling to read more trending content!
Danielle Fishel Encourages Women to Get Mammograms After Revealing She Has Breast Cancer: Her Words
Phil Donahue’s Inspiring Quotes: 4 Moving and Must-Read Messages From the Late TV Show Host
