Naomi Watts and Catherine Deneuve Speak Openly About Life

Published in Unique Estates Life Spring Issue 2025

One Saturday morning, actress Naomi Watts woke up to the news that her book Dare I Say It: Everything I Wish I’d Known About Menopause had entered The New York Times bestseller list.

The first thing she did was kiss her husband, actor Billy Crudup. The second – record a short video for her Instagram profile, thanking all the women who dared to buy the book and recommend it to their friends, mothers, and sisters. In the world of women’s health, Dare I Say It sparked a true revolution.

Across its 256 pages, the 56-year-old actress shares the truth about menopause and its impact on health, sex, and women’s psychological well-being. The book was provoked by her personal confrontation with this new phase in her life, which began shockingly early – at age 34.

At the time, she and then-partner Liev Schreiber were trying to have a child. After months of failed attempts, her gynecologist delivered the news: she was in pre-menopause. “Back then, I had no one to talk to about it. Even my own mother admitted she had never spoken with her mother or sisters on the subject, let alone given me guidance on how to face such a challenge at such a young age.”

Over time, Naomi began asking, sharing, and opening conversations with friends and peers. “I’m grateful to all the women who helped us move from whispered talks to serious conversations about this stage of life, full of important changes that we must be ready for,” she writes in her introduction.

With humor and disarming honesty, Naomi turns menopause into a subject fit for open conversation – much like the women of Sex and the City would discuss it, candidly, with irony, and without boundaries.

Catherine Deneuve, the legendary French actress, has done something similar in her memoir “En moi” (“Myself”, published in Bulgarian as „Самата аз“). The French cinema icon, who celebrated her 81st birthday in 2024, does not spare any details of her eventful and dramatic life – including the tragic death of her beloved sister, actress Françoise Dorléac.

Known for keeping distance from the media, Deneuve surprisingly lifts the curtain on her personal and professional life in the memoir. She even shares notes she kept while filming classics such as Tristana (Luis Buñuel), Dancer in the Dark (Lars von Trier), Indochine (Régis Wargnier), and East-West, shot in Bulgaria.

“As always, I am that little soldier you can rely on. I bear responsibility, I want everything to work out, no matter what – often for the good of the film,” writes Deneuve.