On Saturday, Naomi Watts, Founder of Stripes— a (peri)menopausal wellness brand in partnership with Amyris, Inc., a leading synthetic biotechnology company — sat down with Tasmen Fadal, Laura Brown, Molly Ringwald and more, for a conversation about menopause at the Santa Monica Proper Hotel.

 

The talk was part of The New Pause inaugural menopause symposium, hosted by The Swell, a fast-growing global community and learning platform that helps people navigate the second half of their lives. It offers expert-led workshops and conversations, life-changing experiences, digital wellness tools and an active community aimed to empower members to live longer, happier and healthier lives.

 

The actresses, along with other guests which included Essie Kain, Elise Loehnen and a bevy of doctors which included Dr.Suzanne Gilberg-Lenz, Dr. Suzanne Steimbaum, Dr. Carol Tavris, Dr. Avrum Blum, Dr. Sharon Malone, Dr. Ellen Vora, Dr. Lisa Mosconi, Dr. Rebecca Nelken, Dr. Leah Millheiser, Dr. Somi Javaid, JJ Martin, Joel Stein, Dr. Mary Claire Haver, Dr. Glynis Ablon, and Dr. Kin Yuen, among others, shared their perspective on renewal, reinvention and reclamation as it relates to menopause. 

Stripes provides science-backed, menopause wellness personal care products and aims to destigmatize menopause, empowering women both physically and emotionally. Watts said the founding was based on the premise that a “poster child” was needed for the “dry landscape” that is menopause, when menstruation ceases.

 

According to statistics provided by experts onsite, there are currently 50 million women in menopause in the United States; 51 years old is the average age of onset, and the median duration is 7.4 years. By 2025, the North American Menopause Society estimates the number of postmenopausal women will rise to 1.1 billion worldwide. Symptoms include mood swings, hot flashes, insomnia, weight gain, thinning hair, joint pains, heart palpitations, difficulty concentrating, vaginal dryness, bladder and urinary issues, and loss of sexual desire. Hormone replacement therapy (a combination of estrogen and progesterone) can lower symptoms by 80 to 95 percent.

 

“Women continue to conceal their symptoms for fear of reinforcing negative stereotypes like the weak lady or the unsexy lady or the crazy old crone lady,” said Watts. “It’s time to challenge those stereotypes by augmenting our voices and shifting the tropes from the weak and crazy to the strong and wise.”

 

Watts kicked off the first West Coast event for her Stripes line of menopause-focused beauty and wellness products this past weekend. Watts christened the brand “Stripes” as an ode to having earned her so-called “stripes” entering this phase of her life. 

 

“We can now hold our heads high and know that these cumulative experiences lead to something,” she said. “We deserve respect and we can feel our best.”

Though a taboo topic, the sizeable turnout at the symposium, which included a number of men, was proof that people getting comfortable about talking about an uncomfortable topic and companionship and relief after “generations of invisibility and a lack of sufficient research,” according to Watts. 

 

“It’s time to extinguish the stigma of menopause and fix the inequities in health care,” said Watts. “The focus with women’s health and aging, in terms of the public imagination, has been on anti-aging. Aging is not a failing. Aging is actually a fantastic sign that we’re living and we should celebrate that!”

 

“The King Kong” actress compared her journey into menopause as a story that needs to be told, much like her onscreen ones. 

 

“I want to keep working as an actor. I love my job. I love being part of a story and helping people access their own story and feel the feelings. So, this is kind of another version of that,” said Watts. “Get ready, Hollywood. The stories need to continue for women in their 50s and up. They have been doing a much better job of that. I’ve seen the change. I’m witnessing it in real time, people like Ryan Murphy are creating roles for fantastic women.”