There’s no age limit to falling in love, as Naomi Watts and Billy Crudup, both 54, proved recently when they tied the knot last month.
In a new digital cover with
HELLO!, Naomi opened up about finding love later in life after the menopause and why “age is in”. Their relationship has shown that not only is love possible to find later in life, but also that “older” women are not, as Naomi once feared, “let out to pasture”...
Naomi on age, love and women:
“I'm proud to still be working; when the defining narrative used to be that if you were a hair over 40 you were basically forced into retirement, seeing that shift, that’s empowering.
“There’s growing recognition that women’s stories don’t end at a certain age… Although Hollywood gets a finger pointed at it for lots of wrong doings, we’re a progressive industry, only because we’re in the limelight, it happens in every industry, but Hollywood leans toward progressive thinking. So, I do see evolution, I do see people taking risks and identifying interesting female driven stories which is exactly how it should always have been. A woman's story is interesting at every stage, the longer the life, the deeper it gets and makes for interesting stories.”
Naomi on menopause:
“Going through the menopause at such a young age was not easy, especially during a time when there was so little information available about it. Mood swings, night sweats, and migraines…I was feeling like I was spiralling out of control.”
"Going through this journey led me to a deeper understanding of myself, and I came out on the other side feeling more authentically me. A lot of freedom came in the self-acknowledgement. I had those voices in the back of my mind reminding me how old women are let out to pasture, but there was a lure to this desire to be authentic, to crawl from behind the invisible wall and just acknowledge for myself something that everyone could have probably guessed."
Naomi on why menopause is worth talking about:
“So many things can happen in a woman's life during this time; caring for elderly parents, an emptying nest, a divorce, a career shift, getting back into the workforce. High stakes! All great fodder for meaningful and rich storytelling.”
