Naomi Watts felt "very lonely and scared" when she began to go into early menopause.
The 56-year-old actress- who has Sasha, 17, and 16-year-old Kai with her former partner Liev Schreiber - had been desperately trying to conceive when some blood tests discovered that she was heading into premature ovarian failure, and just "retreated into her shame" when her friends failed to understand.
Speaking on UK TV show 'Loose Women', she explained: "I was 36 years old and trying to get pregnant, and failing, My doctor took some bloodwork and the results suggested I was close to menopause so it put the fear of God in me. I'd spent a long enough time trying to get pregnant, that's a whole fertility story that I go to into the book. Mercifully, I was able to have two children but went heavily into the symptoms as soon as I stopped breastfeeding my second child.
"I felt very lonely and scared. I wished there was a book. At that time, the internet was barely active, there was very little information and whenever I tried to talk with friends about it, it was met with nervous laughter and 'Don't be silly, you're far too young', which made me retreat further and further into my shame."
The 'Mulholland Drive' star - who has now penned 'Dare I Say It: Everything I Wish I’d Known about Menopause' in the hopes of helping others - recalled asking her own mother why she had never discussed that sort of thing with her and admitted that there appeared to be a "code of silence" surrounding women's issues at that time.
She said: "I remember when I was given that news that mother had said that she went into menopause at 45, but no other detail around it. I called her after that first appointment and asked her why she hadn't told me more and she said 'These are the conversations I never had with you because my mother never had with me.' So there was this code of silence that seemed to have been agreed upon. No blame on her, it was just how society worked."
