Naomi Watts Talks Menopause – ‘I Was Crying in the Bathroom, Trying to Scratch Off My Estrogen Patch’ – Recalls Being Told She ‘Freaked People Out’ Early in Her Career: ‘Yeah, No Shit. I Was Desperate, Behind on My Rent and Getting Evicted’

That 10 years before I met David, I became so locked up and I felt worthless. My agent pulled me aside and she said: ‘We need to have a heart to heart. Honey, you are too intense.

You are freaking people out.’ I went: ‘Yeah, no shit.’ I was desperate! I was behind on my rent; I was getting evicted. I didn’t know what to bring to this room,” she recalled at Zurich Film Festival.

They told me I wasn’t sexy – I’m trying to be sexy. You reshape yourself and try to read the tone of what is needed. That’s how it went and I couldn’t be myself anymore.

I was either an extreme version of myself or a diluted version of myself. It took a genius like David Lynch to see beyond all that weirdness I built up, undo it and get to the real me.” The resilience she built up from moving a lot as a kid was helpful, however. Are you in it for the right reasons?

My goal wasn’t just to be famous. I loved disappearing into these characters. I really cared and continued to investigate.

There’s always more to learn.” Watts received the Golden Eye Award at Zurich Film Festival. During the ceremony, she also recalled these difficult first years of trying to become a successful actress, “which had a lot of dry spells.” “And then, mercifully, I met David Lynch in my late 20s and he changed my career.” “Mulholland Drive” is widely considered as her breakout. To this day they still watch it.