Stripes Magnificence Founder and Chief Inventive Officer Naomi Watts talking on the CNBC Changemakers Summit in New York Metropolis on April 16, 2026.
CNBC
Oscar-nominated actress Naomi Watts has continued to have fame on the display into her 50s, however she is constructing extra of her life story round navigating deeply private and infrequently unstated well being and getting old points.
She has develop into more and more open about subjects many public figures, and Hollywood actresses specifically, keep away from, utilizing her platform to normalize conversations relating to fertility, getting old, and bodily adjustments, with the objective of serving to girls really feel assured of their physique regardless of their age.
“I’m attempting to place ahead the messaging that we might be okay with how we glance,” Watts informed CNBC’s Julia Boorstin on the CNBC Changemakers Summit in New York Metropolis on Thursday. “It is okay to be 57 and look 57.”
Watts launched Stripes Magnificence in 2022, an organization centered on serving to girls navigate the challenges related to perimenopause and menopause, whereas aiming to deal with every thing from pores and skin to hair adjustments to general wellness.
Menopause was thought-about very taboo to speak about in lots of cultures primarily due to the age-fertility hyperlink and generational gatekeeping. In lots of societies a lady’s “worth” was tied to her youth and talent to bear youngsters. Speaking about menopause meant admitting these phases have been over. Many ladies in several generations have been taught to silence it and look at it as a non-public burden and never share it.
On the Changemakers Summit, Watts stated looked for causes to assist clarify why nobody talked about it, and even used an nameless Instagram to seek for clues. “Why is not there any info? Why is it so exhausting? Why is it so taboo after we are half the inhabitants?” she stated. “It’s simply biology.”
Founder and chief inventive officer at Stripes Magnificence, Watts was featured on the 2025 CNBC Changemakers listing.
Menopause sometimes happens round ages 45 to 55 and will get identified after a lady doesn’t get her interval for 12 months. In response to info from Midi Well being, whose CEO Joanna Strober was additionally named to the 2025 CNBC Changemakers listing, 6,000 girls hit menopause day by day within the U.S., which equates to 1.3 million girls yearly, whereas 4 in 5 midlife girls expertise signs of menopause, akin to sizzling flashes.
Watts skilled early menopause in her mid-30s. She confronted the frequent signs like evening flashes and sizzling flashes. Watts has stated prior to now that she felt as if “I did not have management over my very own physique.”
Stripes Magnificence has expanded into main retailers like Ulta Magnificence and Sephora, with the as soon as area of interest, uncomfortable class now changing into a mainstream a part of girls’s shopper well being and sweetness. The corporate was acquired in a deal between Watts and personal funding agency L Catterton, which is backed by Louis Vuitton guardian firm LVMH, in 2024. It launched “Nationwide Sizzling Flash Day,” celebrated Sept. 9, to strengthen the message that the menopause journey is a totally pure and shared expertise.
Watts says girls ought to make “a wager on themselves” it doesn’t matter what society is telling, or not telling, them.
“After 50, I’ve felt so a lot better about realizing who I’m, a lot extra snug in my pores and skin,” she stated. “Keep related to girls. Girls are every thing. I’m nothing with out the group of ladies I’ve round me.”
Watts stated prior to now, when folks got here as much as her in public, she typically nervous that requests to take selfies would comply with, and he or she could not assist however take into consideration being pictured with out make-up on. However she says her menopause advocacy lately has modified many of those public interactions. “They’re coming as much as me with tears of their eyes generally, or simply eager to say thanks for giving me the permission, or the dialogue, so I may communicate with my husband or companion or relations and never have disgrace about it. … that offers me nice pleasure. It is so heartening to know the chance I took had a significant impact on others.”
