Matthew McConaughey shares three children — Levi, 16, Vida, 15 and Livingston, 12 — with his wife, Camila Alves.
Naomi Watts is opening up about the conversations she wishes she had with her mother.
The 56-year-old “King Kong” actress, who has been open about her menopause journey in the past, appeared on a recent episode of “The Drew Barrymore Show” for a menopause roundtable.
Actress Brooke Shields, OGYN Dr. Suzanne Gilberg-Lenz, and psychiatrist Dr. Judith Joseph also joined in on the discussion.
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While talking to the panel, Watts recalled learning that she’s “close to menopause at 36” after meeting with her doctor to discuss why she wasn’t getting pregnant.
“At 36, I was at the precipice of wanting to start a family, and I went to my doctor and said, ‘I’m confused about why I’m not getting pregnant,’” Watts said on the show.
Her doctor suggested blood work — and that’s when she received the warning.
“It feels extremely early and shocking to someone who was trying to start a family,” she said of being told she was nearing menopause, while wanting to get pregnant. “Wait a second, this is what I came here for — not to learn that.”
“It created such panic in me,” she added.
It was in that state of panic that she recalled her mom telling her how she had entered early menopause at 45.
When Watts asked her mom why she never told her more, her mother replied, “Well, these were the conversations I didn’t have with my mother, so I never had them with you.”
Nonetheless, Watts said she doesn’t blame her mother for not being more open with her.
“It was just this societal message that was passed from generation to generation that we suffer in silence,” she explained to the panel.
According to the Office on Women’s Health (OASH), menopause “is when your periods stop permanently, and you can no longer get pregnant.” Most women experience menopause between ages 45 and 58.
Early or premature menopause is defined as menopause that happens before age 40, per the OASH.
The most common symptoms of menopause include hot flashes, irregular periods, night sweats, difficulty sleeping, dry skin, eyes and mouth and breast tenderness, according to the Cleveland Clinic.
Watts welcomed two kids after entering early menopause
Despite being told she was nearing menopause at 36, Watts went on to welcome two children — son Sasha, born in 2007, and daughter Kai, born in 2008 — with her ex Liev Schreiber.
Watts was 40 years old when she gave birth to Kai, per People.
“For whatever reason,” she says, “I was able to get pregnant naturally. But after my second child at 40, I went hardcore into symptoms. And that’s when I really had to piecemeal information together.”
Following her separation from Schreiber in 2016, Watts started dating actor Billy Crudup the following year and they tied the knot in 2023, per Us Weekly.
Her menopause roundtable comes less than five months after Watts released her newest book, “Dare I Say It: Everything I Wish I'd Known About Menopause,” published Jan. 21.
In the book, she gave women her five best tips when going through early menopausal symptoms.
Those tips included educating yourself, staying hydrated and getting eight hours of sleep each night, per Women’s Health Mag.
"By my age, you've had disrupted sleep at very various different points in your life—not just for the babies, it's the night sweats and the other pressures in your life," she said.
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"But sleep is absolutely key for me,” she adds.
