Naomi Watts

The actress and Onda Beauty cofounder has a new venture she’s passionate about. Providing both educational resources and science-backed products, Stripes is a community created for people in all stages of menopause. Here, she tells us about it.

Before going through menopause, was it something you had ever thought about?

No! I didn’t know much. I faintly recall my mom saying that she went into early menopause and had her last period at 45— but there was little conversation around it. I didn’t know you could experience anywhere from three to 10 years of symptoms and that before you were officially in menopause there was called perimenopause. So when I started going through it, I was shocked 

When did you start thinking about menopause?

In my late 30s. I met my partner, and we both agreed we wanted to start a family. I wasn’t getting pregnant. I had a friend who was in her 50s, and she suggested I get a blood panel done. They measured my hormones and found that my folliclestimulating hormone was quite elevated— they want it to be under 10, and I was in the 20s. I was told it indicated that I may be close to menopause. Panic set in. I did finally get pregnant and then had a second baby shortly after, at the age of 40. Right after that, the night sweats increased and I was pretty much in perimenopause.

How did you feel about that?