Naomi Watts says movies are missing this plot. Why women need it

Naomi Watts sighs when she thinks about how menopause was portrayed in movies when she was growing up.

It was all jokes about hot flashes and emotional, hormonal women.

No one talked much about it then, so the big screen was the only place she learned about the midlife moment. Those scenes shaped her view so much that she didn’t even realize many of her own symptoms – from dry eyes to frozen shoulder – were signs that she was nearing menopause.

Now at 57, Watts wants to change this narrative.

Podcasters, creators, comedians and writers are taking menopause conversations from taboo to mainstream. And Hollywood producers need to follow, Watts says. She is pushing for more stories that redefine midlife as a time of power, not decline.

“We need to see ourselves represented,” she tells USA TODAY. “Talking about menopause and showing our stories in movies can help women feel less alone. It’s about taking the shame and stigma away and that’s important through storytelling of all kinds.”

Fearing menopause would end her career

It wasn’t long after Watts filmed “King Kong” in 2005 (landing her on Forbes’ list of most bankable actresses) when she went to see her doctor about having her first baby.

She was in her late 30s and her doctor told her she was in perimenopause. She was shocked. After a struggle to get pregnant and a miscarriage, Watts went on to have two children one year apart. Then her menopause symptoms began.

“It was a lonely, scary time,” she remembers.

Growing up in a time when there were two roles for women – romantic lead and grandma – Watts kept her menopause to herself. She worried that talking about it publicly would end her career.

It took her more than 10 years to tell her menopause stories, becoming one of the first celebrities to do so widely. Many followed, from Drew Barrymore who shared that she was having a hot flash during an interview on her talk show in 2023 to Halle Berry who joined U.S. senators at the Capitol last year to push for more money for menopause research and education.

Watts cofounded Stripes, a menopause beauty and wellness brand, in 2022. The company sells everything from vitamins to vaginal cream. Her book, “Dare I Say It: Everything I Wish I Knew About Menopause,” which combined funny and relatable stories with expert advice, was published in 2025. (The book comes out in paperback in February.)

“I don’t want to be told it’s time to stop,” she says. “I have plenty more to say and do.”

Will menopause have its movie moment?

Has there been a movie in the past decade featuring a menopause story line?

Watts says it’s hard to think of one.

OK, how about TV?

There’s “Leeanne,” the sitcom from comedian Leeanne Morgan. And, um, great moments on “Fleabag” (going back six years) and a reference in Watts’ “All’s Fair” legal drama that came out this fall with a cast of actors over 40 including with Glenn Close, 78; Sarah Paulson, 51; Niecy Nash, 55; and Kim Kardashian, 45.

Menopause is nearly invisible on the screen. Of the 225 films prominently featuring a 40-plus female character released between 2009 and 2024, only 6% (14 films) mentioned menopause, the Geena Davis Institute found in a December 2025 study.

One featured menopause as a recurring story line: In “Sex and the City 2,” Kim Catrall’s character navigates menopause and hormone therapy.

Most rely on menopause as a comedic device, a joke to explain women’s mood swings.

“It’s fine to do all the funny stuff. I’m not poo pooing that,” Watts says, laughing. “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.”

Menopause as more than just hot flashes

The Geena Davis Institute study found that two out of three people surveyed said it’s important to portray menopause on screen in a more realistic way.

“We are more than just hot flashes,” says Madeline Di Nonno, president and CEO of the Geena Davis Institute. “Movies and TV can directly affect how women see themselves. And we need to do better.”

About 8 in 10 adults 18 and older say movies and TV shape how people see aging, according to a recent study from AARP. (A little more than half of those surveyed were under 50.)

And 3 in 4 adults age 50 and older are more likely to support movies or TV that include characters similar in age to them, according to the survey. The organization hosted the AARP Movies for Grownups Awards" to highlight older actors’ contributions to movies on Jan. 10.

Watts says the next generation is ready for a change, especially millennial women who are starting perimenopause.

For now, Watts is celebrating seeing more older women’s success.

The second season of the Jon Hamm and Amanda Peet Apple TV+'s drama "Your Friends and Neighbors" features Peet's character navigating perimenopause. The season premieres in April. And "Riot Women" a BBC show featuring menopausal women who accidentally form a punk band is being hailed as the must-see show of the year.

Watts was happy to see Oscar nominations for Demi Moore, 63, in “The Substance” and Fernanda Torres, 60, in “I’m Still Here” in 2025.

She also appreciated seeing older women as love interests, such as Nicole Kidman in “Babygirl” and Gwyneth Paltrow in “Marty Supreme.”

“When I look at the women around me, whether they are actors or writers or producers, teachers or doctors, in their midlife they are doing incredible things and I’m really impressed by them,” she says. “Their stories should be reflected. It shouldn’t just be young women on the screen.”

Watts says with age comes the ability to be pickier about her projects.

She played the lead in “The Friend,” a well received 2024 movie about a middle-age woman who comes to care for a 150-pound Great Dane after her friend’s suicide. Watts will return for season 2 for “All’s Fair.”

“People stop me on the street now not just to ask for a selfie, but to say thank you for being part of the shift in creating the dialogue so I felt comfortable enough to talk to my family members, to my boss, my children,” she says. “That feels incredibly meaningful and it was definitely worth the risk.”

Laura Trujillo is a national columnist focusing on health and wellness. She is the author of "Stepping Back from the Ledge: A Daughter's Search for Truth and Renewal," and can be reached at [email protected].