Naomi Watts Says She Was Told Her Career Would Be Over When She Turned 40

Naomi Watts did an interview with Entertainment Weekly and talked about menopause, ageism, and showbiz, baby! 54-year-old Naomi says that when she hit it big with 2001’s Mulholland Drive, she was 33 (“on death’s door” in Hollywood years), and she was told to hurry up and do a bunch of movies before turning 40, the age when she’d become officially “unfuckable.” Because, as everyone knows, a woman’s vagina seals shut the moment they enter their fifth decade. Unfuckable!

via EW:

“I was told [taps an imaginary watch], ‘You better get a lot done because it’s all over at 40 when you become unfuckable.’ And I’m like, ‘What? What does that mean exactly?’ Then you think about it, and you go, ‘Oh, right. When you are no longer reproductive, when those organs are no longer functioning, you are not sexy, so, therefore, you are not hirable.’ That just made me so mad.”

Naomi also shared that she started going through perimenopause in her late thirties, around the time she wanted to start having kids, “so you can imagine the panic.” She says she felt “a lot of secrecy and shame” around that time, and, after having two sons with ex-partner Liev Schreiber in 2007 and 2008, she started “swiftly going into a real version of menopause.” Naomi says she knew her mom also went through menopause early, but it was never really discussed:

I did have in the back of my mind that my mom had gone [into menopause] early; she said [it happened] at 45 but gave me no details surrounding it. So, when I got to this point, I was like, “Why didn’t you tell me more?” And she said, “Well, these are the conversations I didn’t have with my mother because she didn’t have them with hers.”

Naomi says she felt “very private” about this change in her life:

I didn’t speak to too many people. I tried to open the conversation with a few people around me, and it was sort of met with, “Oh, right,” or nervous laughter or something. It just didn’t feel like the door was open at all. I was having night sweats, so the sleeplessness and with two small babies — was not an easy time.

And here’s an unexpected twist: Naomi is partnering with the company Em & Friends for a line of funny menopause greeting cards to help raise money for the Alliance for Period Supplies. It’s called “The Naomi Watts Menopause Collection.” The name makes it sound like a breathable pajama line sold at Sears, But nope! Cards! Naomi says she’s already sent some to her friends, and “they might be surprised, but it’s all in good fun.” Naomi’s cards are on the Em & Friends website, and they say shit like:

Welcome to menopause! On one hand, there’s brain fog, headaches, insomnia, mood swings, and whatever the hell is happening to my knees.

On the other hand, there’s the breathtaking power of truly not giving a shit what anyone thinks anymore.

Obviously, Naomi Watts is still hot as hell and has starred in movie after movie long after she turned 40. So sorry, ageist misogynists, but Naomi Watts still hasn’t toasted to her Last Fuckable Day!

Pic: Marion Curtis/StarPix for Amazon/Cover Images