'We are half the population'

Oscar-nominated actress Naomi Watts has continued to have screen fame into her 50s, but she's building more of her life story around addressing deeply personal and often unspoken health and aging issues.

She has become increasingly outspoken about topics that many public figures, and Hollywood actresses in particular, avoid, using her platform to normalize conversations about fertility, aging and physical changes, with the goal of helping women feel confident in their bodies no matter their age.

“I'm trying to get the message across that we can be okay with the way we look,” Watts told CNBC's Julia Boorstin at the CNBC Changemakers Summit in New York City on Thursday. “It's okay to be 57 and look 57.”

Watts launched Stripes Beauty in 2022, a company focused on helping women overcome the challenges associated with perimenopause and menopause, while seeking to address everything from skin and hair changes to overall well-being.

Talking about menopause was considered taboo in many cultures, mainly due to the age-fertility link and generational control. In many societies a woman's “worth” was tied to her youth and her ability to have children. Talking about menopause meant admitting that those stages had passed. Many women of different generations were taught to silence it and see it as a private burden and not to share it.

At the Changemakers Summit, Watts said he looked for reasons to help explain why no one was talking about it, and even took to an anonymous Instagram to look for clues. “Why is there no information? Why is it so difficult? Why is it so taboo when we are half the population?” she said. “It's just biology.”

Watts, founder and creative director of Stripes Beauty, appeared on the 2025 CNBC Changemakers list.

Menopause usually occurs between ages 45 and 55 and is diagnosed after a woman does not have her period for 12 months. According to data from Midi Health, whose CEO Joanna Strober was also named to the 2025 CNBC Changemakers list, 6,000 women reach menopause every day in the US, equivalent to 1.3 million women a year, while four in five middle-aged women experience menopause symptoms such as hot flashes.

Watts experienced early menopause when she was around 30 years old. He faced common symptoms like night hot flashes and hot flashes. Watts has said in the past that she felt like she “had no control over my own body.”

Stripes Beauty has expanded into major retailers like Ulta Beauty and Sephora, and the once awkward niche category is now becoming a mainstream part of the female consumer's health and beauty. The company was acquired in a deal between Watts and private investment firm L Catterton, which is backed by Louis Vuitton's parent company LVMH, in 2024. It launched “National Hot Flash Day,” celebrated on September 9, to reinforce the message that the journey to menopause is a completely natural and shared experience.

Watts says women should make “a bet on themselves” no matter what society tells them or not.

“After 50, I've felt a lot better knowing who I am, a lot more comfortable with myself,” she said. “Stay connected to women. Women are everything. I am nothing without the community of women I have around me.”

Watts said that in the past, when people approached her in public, she often worried that they would ask her to take selfies, and she couldn't help but think about being photographed without makeup. But she says her menopause advocacy in recent years has changed many of these public interactions. “Sometimes they come to me with tears in their eyes, or just wanting to thank me for giving me permission or dialogue, so I can talk to my husband, my partner or my family and not feel ashamed about it… that gives me great joy. It's very encouraging to know that the risk I took had a significant effect on others.”