“We are half the population.”

Oscar-nominated actress Naomi Watts continues to maintain her on-screen fame well into her 50s, but she’s also built her life story around navigating the deeply personal and often unspoken issues of health and aging.

Increasingly open about topics that many celebrities, especially Hollywood actresses, shy away from, she uses her platform to normalize conversations around fertility, aging, and body changes, with the goal of empowering women to feel confident in their bodies no matter their age.

“I’m trying to get the message out there that it’s okay to look the way you look,” Watts told CNBC’s Julia Boorstin at the CNBC Changemakers Summit in New York City on Thursday. “There’s nothing wrong with looking 57 when you’re 57.”

Watts launched Stripes Beauty in 2022. The company focuses on helping women overcome the challenges associated with perimenopause and menopause, and aims to address everything from skin to hair changes to overall health.

Menopause has long been considered very taboo to talk about in many cultures, primarily due to the association between age and fertility and intergenerational relationships. In many societies, a woman’s “value” was tied to her youth and ability to bear children. Talking about menopause means acknowledging that the phase is over. Many women of different generations have been taught to keep it quiet, see it as a personal burden, and not share it.

Watts told the Changemakers Summit he was looking for an explanation as to why no one was talking about it, and even used anonymous Instagram to search for clues. “Why is there no information? Why is it so difficult? Why is it taboo when only half the population is here?” she said. “It’s just biology.”

Watts, founder and chief creative officer of Stripes Beauty, was featured on the 2025 CNBC Changemakers list.

Menopause usually occurs between the ages of 45 and 55 and is diagnosed when a woman does not have a period for 12 months. According to information from Midi Health, whose CEO Joanna Strober was named to the 2025 CNBC Changemakers List, 6,000 women in the U.S. go through menopause every day, which equates to 1.3 million women a year, and 4 out of 5 middle-aged women experience menopausal symptoms such as hot flashes.

Watts experienced early menopause in her mid-30s. She was facing common symptoms like hot flashes and hot flashes at night. Watts said in the past she felt like she had “no control over my body.”

Stripes Beauty has made its way into major retailers like Ulta Beauty and Sephora, and what was once a niche and off-putting category is now mainstream health and beauty for female consumers. The company was acquired in 2024 in a deal between Watts and L. Catterton, a private investment firm backed by Louis Vuitton’s parent company LVMH. The company has instituted National Hot Flash Day, celebrated on September 9, to reinforce the message that menopause is a completely natural and common experience.

Watts says women should “bet on themselves” regardless of what society says or doesn’t say.

“Since I turned 50, I’ve found it much easier to know who I am and feel much more comfortable in my own skin,” she said. “Stay connected to women. Women are everything. I’m nothing without a community of women around me.”

Watts said that in the past, when people approached her in public, she often worried that they would keep asking for selfies and couldn’t stop thinking about being photographed without makeup. But she says recent menopause advocacy has changed many of these public interactions. “Sometimes they come to me with tears in their eyes and just want to thank me for giving them the permission and the dialogue to be able to talk about it without shame with their husbands, partners, family members. … That gives me great joy. It’s very reassuring to know that the risks I took had a meaningful impact on others.”