Naomi Watts has opened up about her issues with memory loss and her fear of being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.
The actress, 54, was told by doctors that she had a higher risk of developing Alzheimer’s, a brain disorder that causes memory loss, confusion, and difficulty thinking, after entering early menopause.
In her new book, Dare I Say It: Everything I Wish I’d Known About Menopause, Watts said was informed she was “close to menopause” when she was 36.
Most women in the UK experience menopause between the ages of 45 and 55, according to the NHS.
“The news for people like me, who went into early menopause, is dramatic,” The Impossible actress wrote.
“According to [neuroscientist Dr Lisa] Mosconi: ‘If you enter menopause before the age of 45, that in and of itself is a risk factor for developing Alzheimer’s.”
She went on: “Yikes! For those of us in early menopause, [Mosconi] says hormone therapy could be one way to lower that risk.”
Watts - who married Billy Crudup last summer - recalled several times that she struggled with memory loss, admitting it made her feel “afraid” and “like a shell of herself.”
The Mulholland Drive star said she felt so “confused” that she once missed a flight to the Golden Globes in Los Angeles.
“Not long ago, I was at the airport heading to the Golden Globes,” she penned.
“I was texting away with my friends and got so consumed that I missed the boarding call for my flight. By the time I looked up, they’d closed the door, and even though the plane sat at the gates for forty-five minutes, they wouldn’t let me on.
“The next available flight was packed so I had to sit with my gown on my lap the whole way, because there was no luggage space left.”
She added: “I’m no stranger to the confusion caused by memory loss.”
Watts also brought up the time she forgot the name of Lena Dunham’s show, Too Much, during a dinner with producer Ryan Murphy, with whom she worked on last year’s Feud: Capote vs The Swans.
“What I’ve tried to do in these situations is to own it. I don’t want to minimise it though,” she wrote.
“Memory loss is a real peril of middle age. And whether it’s related to brain fog caused by brain changes or caused by sleep loss, which is also so common at this age, the effect is the same.
“Without your memory, you can start to feel like a shell of yourself. You wonder who you are. Not only do you not know how to function in the new version of yourself, but you’re also afraid for the self you’ve been for your whole life is never coming back.”
Also in the book, Watts revealed she was told she’d “never work again” if she admitted to being menopausal due to the stigma that older women face in Hollywood.
The two-time Oscar nominee previously said she was told her career would be over by the time she hit her 40s.
“My career didn’t really start until my early 30s; that was when Mulholland Drive came out,” she told InStyle in 2022.
“At that time, I was also being told your career would be over around your 40s.”
