Naomi Watts is done being ashamed.

At the height of her fame, Naomi Watts was keeping a secret.

Yet, unlike other Hollywood secrets and mysteries, this one was devoid of scandal, infidelity, on-set feuds, disappearances or torrid romances.

Yet the actress lived for years with a deep sense of shame.

Naomi Watts was born in the UK and moved to Australia with her family when she was 14 years old. Her first career move was to become a model, but she soon discovered that a life posing in front of a camera was not what she was looking for, so she transitioned into working as a fashion editor at a magazine, as a way of fulfilling her need for creativity along with still pursuing a career in fashion. It wasn't until her twenties that Watts attended a drama workshop and fell in love with acting. After growing up as the daughter of an aspiring actress and dabbling in it herself over the years, she was then determined to pursue it full-time.

Watts' break-out role was in David Lynch's neo-noir film Mulholland Drive, which premiered in 2001 and has gone on to become a beloved cult classic, while also earning its leading lady international recognition and acclaim.

As is the case with most 'overnight' successes, Watts' industry breakthrough was the result of years of hard work and ongoing rejection. In the mid to late 1990s, Watts landed roles in the films Tank Girl and Children of the Corn IV: The Gathering, but it wasn't until she was 33 (young in reality but old by Hollywood standards) that she was cast in the role that would go on to change her life.

"It was not until David Lynch cast me in Mulholland Drive that I was known within the industry," the now 56-year-old told No Filter. "Then things kicked off pretty quickly after that. I remember at the time an agent said to me 'Well, it's all going to dry up at 40, so you better put the pedal to the metal and just go like gangbusters.'

"I just thought, 'Oh my God, what? Why is it all over? What do you mean? And they said 'That's what happens when you're seen as unf**kable'."

"When you're not producing babies, you're not f**kable. They don't want to f**k you. It doesn't sound right or fair, but it sat with me and I did work like crazy for that 10 years. I felt it looming."

Watts went on to prove herself as a bankable leading lady in The Ring and The Ring Two, both considered brilliantly crafted horror classics. Yet it was a role in Alejandro González Iñárritu's film 21 Grams, released in 2003, that saw her receive an avalanche of critical acclaim for an actress who was still considered a relative 'newcomer' to Hollywood. Her role as a grief-stricken mother who falls back into addiction the film earned her nominations for Best Actress at the Academy Awards, British Academy Film Awards, and Screen Actors Guild Awards.

Watts then went on to star in Peter Jackson's King Kong film and to the outside world, everything in her life seemed picture-perfect. She was an in-demand actress swinging from small critically acclaimed projects to blockbusters with ease, and she was happily in love with fellow actor Liev Schreiber, ready to start a family.

British actress Naomi Watts on what it's like to be considered a 'newcomer' to Hollywood in her early 30s. Image: Ben Watts/Supplied.

Watts and Schreiber first met in a hotel lobby in Toronto in the early 2000s after mutual friends tried to set them up, yet it wasn't until their paths crossed again at the 2005 Met Gala, and the resulting after-party, that they started to fall in love.

A few years later, while in the midst of filming a blockbuster, Watts began to notice that something wasn't right with her health.

"I was playing an ingénue in King Kong and just at the tail end of that I went to New Zealand to do some pickup re-shoots," she said. "I'd already met my partner, and we were trying to start a family, but hadn't succeeded at that point.

"That's when an older friend of mine said 'You might want to go and get your blood work taken, just check your numbers. They can tell from your hormones if that's having anything to do with you not succeeding at getting pregnant."

"So I went to my gynaecologist, and he said 'What other symptoms have you been having? Because these numbers suggest that you're close to menopause.' The word 'perimenopause' was not a thing then. It might have been known within the medical community, but it certainly wasn't a word I was familiar with.

"Around the time I started feeling symptoms," she continued. "I was also slowly testing the waters with some of my closest friends, and it was all met with, 'Oh, don't be silly, there's no way, you're way too young. That's just ridiculous.' This instantly told me that this was not happening to anyone else. So you retreat, and then the shame begins."

The actress went on to discover that she was going into early menopause, a moment in her life she has chronicled in great detail in her new book Dare I Say It: Everything I Wish I'd Known About Menopause.

"I was told I was going into early menopause, so I was definitely not going to share that secret," she told No Filter. "I definitely wish I had a source, a resource of some kind for me to feel less alone, like a book, friends, or doctors to talk to.

"I was ashamed and thinking this was the end of everything. Not just my fertility but my career, and my use as a woman, which is absurd. But this societal imprint of you and your worth is wrapped up in your fertility and when that reproductive system breaks down you're just chucked in the pile.

"Oh, am I supposed to go to the corner and pull out my knitting needles and just rock on the chair? It really felt scary.

"You just want to be like everyone else," she continued. "You just want to be on the same page at the same time and not go too far from the crowd that you're moving within."

Listen to the full episode of Naomi Watts' No Filter interview with Mia Freedman. Post continues after audio.

Watts and Schriber went on to welcome two children; Sasha was born in 2007 and Kai in 2008. The couple ended their relationship in 2016 after 11 years together, posting a joint statement that read: "It is with great love, respect, and friendship in our hearts that we look forward to raising our children together and exploring this new phase of our relationship."

In 2016, Watts began filming the Netflix psychological drama Gypsy, starring opposite actor Billy Crudup, who played her husband. Although the actors had crossed paths before, after filming wrapped they started to become more than co-workers. In June 2023, Watts confirmed that the couple were officially married by posting a photo of them standing on the steps of a Manhattan courthouse, with the caption reading "Hitched!"

"It wasn't until I was in my late 40s that I decided I was going to own this, and it was really a lot to do with meeting my husband, he's now my husband, and being brave enough with him," the actress told No Filter. "He didn't have any squeamishness around it. So I felt safe sharing it with my partner.

"It's the in-between moments," Watts said of falling in love with Crudup. "It's not the dry humping on set (while filming), we also had several months of sitting around talking about a whole list of things, whether it was kids or acting or business, travel we covered everything in those sometimes hour-long lighting setups, and we just got along. You notice how someone works with other people, not just your own connectivity, but how they treat other people.

"And by the way, we did meet here and there throughout New York," she continued. "But that was when we came to know each other properly, on the set of Gypsy. Outside of work, we had friends who were scheming, who were trying to put us together, and that's when you learn even more about each other."

In her book and speaking on No Filter, Watts shared an intimate moment that happened during the early days of her romance with Crudup, where she was wearing a hormone patch top to help with her menopause symptoms but felt nervous about sharing this part of her life with her new partner.

"There are many different ways to take hormone replacement therapy and at this point in time, I was on the patch," Watts said on No Filter.

"I got caught up in the moment and then had to excuse myself. I couldn't get the patch, then it left a mark, and I was just in the bathroom for ages trying to get rid of any trace, thinking that he would think 'What was wrong with you? What's that all over your body?'.

"I came out after being in there for far too long without seeming completely weird on the other side of the door. And he was like, 'Is everything okay?' And I just said 'Yes, well no, but yes. Look, I'm in menopause. Should I leave?' He then said 'We're just getting started.'"

Despite being one of Hollywood's most recognisable faces, Watts said she now gets stopped on the street for a different reason, one that has nothing to do with fans asking for a selfie or telling her they love her movies.

Instead, they just want to say thank you.

Thank you for sharing her story and for refusing to be ashamed, allowing them to do the same thing.

Read more about Naomi Watts:

• The true story of María Belón and Enrique Álvarez, the couple who inspired the film The Impossible.

• 'I'm pretty proud of us.' Inside Naomi Watts and Liev Schreiber's blended family.

• Naomi Watts played Billy Crudup's wife on a TV show. They just got married IRL for the second time.

• The true story behind Ryan Murphy's new series Feud contains glamorous socialites, murder and revenge.

• 'I went into complete panic.' At 36, Naomi Watts started going through perimenopause.

• Prime Video's psychological horror Goodnight Mommy will chill you to the bone.

Featured Image: JUANKR/Supplied.