Naomi Watts wants women to know that going through the menopause doesn't have to end their sex lives - she's got the confidence and experience to have her best sex ever in her postmenopausal era.
Menopause and perimenopause can have many affects on the body, and for over a third of women, the decrease in oestrogen can result in poor libido and vaginal dryness. Those symptoms are inevitably going to lead to sex being off the table. Some women might not be particularly interested in getting their sex drive back, but for others, support and the right menopause care is required to reignite those sparks in the bedroom - and nobody should have to live with a sex life ruined by menopause if they choose not to.
Recently, Kate Winslet has been singing the praises of testosterone in perimenopause to regain libido, feeling delighted it's made her 'feel sexy again.' Any treatment for lack of sex drive will be individualised and will come after consultations with a Doctor or menopause specialist - it can take trial and error to get the right treatment plan for your symptoms too, so it's worth persevering. Naomi Watts is another high profile star who likes to speak out about sex and menopause, an issue close to her heart after going through early menopause at the age of 36.
The 56-year-old actress refers to vaginal problems relating to the menopause as "the most taboo symptoms," telling Forbes, "The sex life doesn't disappear entirely. What happens is it becomes painful, and so women just need support and that comes in a product as well as an open conversation. You can still have a sex life." In fact, the star even speaks candidly about finding her own sex life to be better than ever since going through the menopause.
"I personally think sex becomes more pleasurable when you take out the fear of making babies," she explains, adding, "It feels more, 'I'm going to do this for myself.' You're more confident with yourself, you've had experience, you're wiser, you're not going to be all like, 'Oh I want to turn the lights down.'"
Naomi did however, have a few insecurities about how her now husband, Billy Crudup, would feel about seeing her wearing an oestrogen patch, when the couple first started dating. To quash these fears, the actress immediately went down the line of open communication with her new love.
"I was wearing my patch and I was nervous that my new lover was going to see it," she says in an interview. Explaining further, she went on, "The minute I brought honesty into the room, despite how awkward and hard that was for me - I've had so much shame about it - he knew how to behave, he knew what cues to follow, he was 100 per cent empathetic and I can safely say we went on to have, you know, pretty great sex that night."
Naomi believes that if her mother had prepared her for the menopause and when she started the process at 36 she'd had immediate access to the right resources, she'd have had a much better menopause experience. For that reason, she's created her own perimenopause and menopause beauty and wellness hub, named Stripes. The website provides support for women who need it, along with evidence-backed products to help with issues such as vaginal wellness and sexual discomfort, alongside skincare and hair and body products.
Offering more information on how her website came to be, Naomi explains, "It's scary when you don't have enough information and you don't have a community. The physical changes are so new to your body, so those transitions are really hard. I wish for everyone to be well educated before they're there, because most of the time women are experiencing that and not knowing what's going on. If they had that information, it would go a lot easier.
"It's when you don't know that you turn it on yourself and think you're going crazy. So, better equipped, but also knowing and trusting and hearing from women of my age bracket openly that it's okay. On the other side, there's a reclaiming that feels really good."
