image of woman with dark hair named Mary Claire Haver

Building a Menopause Brand: Naomi Watts on HRT, Hot Flashes & Hollywood

unPAUSED with Dr. Mary Claire Haver

February 17, 2026 60 mins

About

This week on unPaused, Dr. Mary Claire Haver sits down with Naomi Watts, Academy Award nominated actress, entrepreneur, and New York Times bestselling author of Dare I Say It. Naomi's career spans decades in Hollywood, from her breakthrough role in David Lynch's Mulholland Drive to recent work with directors like Ryan Murphy and Lena Dunham. After receiving a shocking early menopause diagnosis at 36 while struggling with fertility, Naomi spent years navigating untreated symptoms in silence before becoming an unexpected advocate for millions of women facing midlife transitions. In 2021, she founded Stripes Beauty, a menopause focused skincare and wellness brand built on community, education, and celebrating womens earned wisdom rather than promising to reverse time. In this conversation, Dr. Haver and Naomi explore the reality of growing up across continents after losing her father at eight years old, the decade long struggle to break into Hollywood, and the moment at 30 when her acting career finally launched. Naomi opens up about the devastating news from her doctor that she was approaching menopause at 36, the desperate fertility journey that followed including traveling to China for herbal remedies and extreme dietary changes, and the perimenopause symptoms she dismissed as allergies or stress in her late twenties including night sweats, migraines, brain fog, and sleep disruption. Guest links: Naomi Watts (Instagram) Naomi Watts (IMDB) Stripes Beauty Other Resources Davina McCall (Instagram) Stacy London (Instagram) Dr. Jen Gunter Books “Inconceivable, 20th Anniversary Edition: A Woman's Triumph over Despair and Statistics,” by Julia Indichova “Dare I Say It: Everything I Wish I'd Known About Menopause,” by Naomi Watts“The New Perimenopause,” by Dr. Mary Claire Haver To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Information

Episode

23

Date

February 17, 2026

Length

60 mins
image of woman with dark hair named Mary Claire Haver
image of woman with dark hair named Mary Claire Haver
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unPAUSED with Dr. Mary Claire Haver

Welcome to unPAUSED, the podcast where bold, unfiltered conversations take place about what it really takes for women to thrive in the second half of life. Every week, Dr. Mary Claire Haver, a board-certified Obstetrician-Gynecologist, Certified Menopause Practitioner, and #1 New York Times best-selling author, tackles the conversations women actually need to hear. Dr. Haver […]

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