What Happens to Your Eyes During Menopause? Hidden Symptoms Naomi Watts Wants Women to Recognize Earlier
Half the population goes through it — and for decades, almost no one talked about it. Naomi Watts is one of the celebrities trying to change that, opening up about perimenopause symptoms she experienced as early as age 36 and pushing back on a medical system she says repeatedly dismissed her.
The Oscar-nominated actress has written a book about menopause, partnered with eye health experts and used interviews with outlets to detail what she wishes she had known earlier. Her message: the symptoms are often broader, weirder and lonelier than pop culture suggests.
For more information: Perimenopause Symptoms Women Often Miss: What Are the Lesser-Known Signs to Watch For?
Why Naomi Watts Is Speaking Out About Perimenopause Now
Watts says her own education about menopause came almost entirely from media — and it left her unprepared.
“All I knew about menopause was what you would see on TV or in movies or in books was women go crazy and the hot flashes and mood swings,” Watts told USA TODAY. “But it’s obviously much more in depth and complex like that. It doesn’t have to be all doom and gloom if you have the education.”
She first heard the word from a doctor at 36, while trying to start a family with then-partner Liev Schreiber. “When I was trying to make babies, I was told [by a doctor] that I was probably close to menopause,” Watts told Women’s Health. “It filled me with panic and shame. I just thought, ‘Who am I, as a woman, if I can’t reproduce?’ Absurd thoughts.”
Watts and Schreiber went on to welcome kids Sasha in 2007 and Kai in 2008. The couple split in 2016 after 11 years together, and Watts married actor Billy Crudup in 2023.
The Perimenopause Symptoms Naomi Watts Didn’t Recognize
One of the first symptoms Watts experienced was “angry, itchy, red skin” — something she initially tried to cover with makeup.
“Hiding it with makeup was just making it worse and more irritable,” she said. “Any products that were working for me before were no longer working. They were too drying, too harsh, too active.”
The more familiar symptoms came too — night sweats and irregular periods — but Watts says doctors were slow to connect the dots. “Tuberculosis came up before menopause did,” she told Bustle.
While filming the Netflix series Gypsy, she leaned on her makeup artist for support. “She’s around the same age, and I just needed one person to understand what I was going through,” Watts told InStyle. “She identified with what I was experiencing and totally wrapped her arms around me.”
Watts founded Stripes Beauty, a menopause-focused beauty and wellness brand that develops skincare, body care and intimate health products designed to support the physical changes that come with midlife.
How Menopause Affects Eye Health
Vision changes were another surprise. Watts says she had been told she needed glasses but resisted wearing them.
“The eyes just continued to be a strain,” Watts told People, “but I certainly didn’t know that that was anything to do with, you know, estrogen levels dropping, you know, causing dryness.”
Dr. Charissa Lee, Head of Professional Affairs, Vision at J&J, told People that women in midlife should watch for “dry eyes, tired eyes, eye strain and fluctuating blurry vision.” Lee also flagged presbyopia — difficulty reading small print — as a key sign.
“For me, creativity depends on being fully present — and eye health is a big part of that,” Watts wrote on Instagram. “As we age and our hormones change, our vision can shift too.”
Why Watts Wants to Break the Menopause Stigma
For Watts, the bigger fight is cultural. She told British Vogue that menopause was the one subject her friends would not engage with, even as they spoke openly about fertility, breastfeeding and sex.
“It’s so shocking, and this is half the population,” she said. “It wasn’t that long ago that you would be sent off to the insane asylum.”
She credits a generation of women refusing to stay quiet with finally moving the medical system. “It’s taken generations of women suffering to get to this point where we’ve gone: ‘Actually, no, I’m not OK with this.’”
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This story was originally published May 14, 2026 at 4:00 PM with the headline "What Happens to Your Eyes During Menopause? Hidden Symptoms Naomi Watts Wants Women to Recognize Earlier."
