Naomi Watts declares sex is 'more pleasurable' after menopause - as she opens up about going through it at 'such a young age'

Naomi Watts declared sex is better after menopause as she opened up about navigating her early menopause in a recent panel conversation.

Naomi Watts attended a panel held by South by Southwest Sydney (SXSW) on October 17 and explained how her early menopause affected her after having her second child at age 40 in 2008. "As soon as I had my second child, I basically went into hardcore symptoms," Naomi said per ABC.

This isn't the first time that the actress has opened up about her struggles with menopause symptoms. In July 2023, the actress told Hello! "Going through menopause at such a young age was not easy, especially during a time when there was so little information available about it." She then listed that her symptoms made her feel like she was losing control. "Mood swings, night sweats, and migraines…I was feeling like I was spiralling out of control," she said.

"Going through this journey led me to a deeper understanding of myself, and I came out on the other side feeling more authentically me," she explained. "A lot of freedom came in the self-acknowledgement. I had those voices in the back of my mind reminding me how old women are let out to pasture, but there was a lure to this desire to be authentic, to crawl from behind the invisible wall and just acknowledge for myself something that everyone could have probably guessed."

Naomi, who hails this go-to cleanser and bargain cleansing pads as two of her favourite menopausal skincare products, revealed that her menopause has had an impact on her sex life.

Per the Daily Mail, in September 2023, Naomi took part in a panel entitled 'Unlocking Intimacy: Navigating Passion in Midlife.' Naomi said, "I personally think sex becomes more pleasurable when you take out the fear of like making babies... when you know it's not the right time... like what is that expression... 'closed for business, open for pleasure!'" 

The actress added, "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'."

During her more recent SXSW panel appearance on October 17, the actress added that she wasn't always so confident and she did have some initial concerns about going through early menopause. "I went into, 'Oh my God, I'm finished,'" she said. 'I'm no longer sexy. I work in Hollywood," She then added that the impression she had received was, "And if you're not fertile, you're unf***able."

Naomi Watts married earlier this year in a floral lace wedding dress to Billy Crudup. During the panel, she revealed how she broached the menopause topic with her husband - who was her boyfriend at the time. "I will go carefully here to protect the privacy of my relationship," Naomi began, "But I will say, it was a very awkward time."

"I didn't know how squeamish he would be. And the idea of exposing such personal things that I knew I felt ashamed of, how would he feel?" she said. "It's hard to hide a patch. It's hard to hide the moods. It's hard to just show up in the ways that you may have in your 20s and 30s."

She concluded that honesty ended up being the best policy and her husband was 'gentle' and passed the 'test. "He knew how to behave. He knew how to just be gentle and show up," she said. "And obviously he passed the litmus test, and now we're married."