Naomi Watts has opened up about her experiences of memory loss after learning she is at a higher risk of the syndrome.
The actor, 54, got candid about her health in her new bookDare I Say It: Everything I Wish I’d Known About Menopause.
In a chapter titled “Tell Me Again”, the Mulholland Drive star revealed her reaction to learning that she is at a higher risk of developing Alzheimer’s after entering early menopause.
Watts said that she was informed that she was “close to menopause” by a doctor when she was 36 years old – which she called “early menopause”.
According to the NHS, most women in the UK experience menopause between the ages of 45 and 55.
“The news for people like me, who went into early menopause, is dramatic, 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,’” Watts wrote.
“Yikes! For those of us in early menopause, [Mosconi] says hormone therapy could be one way to lower that risk.”
In the book, the actor recalled several times that she had been affected by memory loss, including when she missed a flight on the way to the Golden Globes in Los Angeles.
“Not long ago, I was at the airport heading to the Golden Globes,” she said. “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.”
On another occasion, during a dinner with TV showrunner Ryan Murphy, with whom she worked on last year’s Feud: Capote vs The Swans, Watts said that she forgot the name of Lena Dunham’s show Too Much.
“What I’ve tried to do in these situations is to own it,” she said. “I don’t want to minimise it though. 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.”
She also recalled having confiscated her children’s toys when they misbehaved only to forget altogether where she had hid them.
“Then, when it was time to give the toy back, I often couldn’t remember where it was,” she said. “They began to call me out for not remembering. We couldn’t find the older one’s Nintendo for months.”
Elsewhere in her book, Watts opens up about her experience of menopause – admitting that she was told she would never work again if she admitted to being in it.
She also spoke about her sex life and named a sex scene with her now-husband that was so intense it sparked their relationship.
