
Naomi Watts has opened up in her new book Dare I Say It: Everything I Wish I’d Known About Menopause, reflecting on her personal journey through pregnancy and fertility struggles during her relationship with former partner Liev Schreiber. In the memoir, Watts candidly shares the challenges she faced in her desire to become a mother, including her difficulties with IVF due to hormonal issues.
Determined to conceive, Watts resorted to fertility treatments such as Clomid and intrauterine insemination (IUI), even to the extent of tracking her ovulation and body temperature obsessively. She humorously admits to being so desperate that she would have tried anything, even eating her dog’s toenails, if it could have helped her chances of conceiving. Watts’ fixation on getting pregnant led to tension in her relationship with Schreiber, though she couldn’t give up on her dream.
She also describes going to extreme lengths, such as monitoring the pH of her vagina and spending considerable amounts of money on her fertility treatments. Watts’ desire to conceive was so strong that she says she would have “mortgaged her house” to solve the problem.
Eventually, while shooting Eastern Promises, Watts discovered she was pregnant. Despite the joy, she kept her pregnancy a secret initially, especially after a previous miscarriage, fearing it would disrupt her work. She later recalled the emotional moment of feeling her baby move for the first time during a scene with co-star Sinead Cusack, realizing in that instant that her pregnancy was real and that the baby was healthy and strong.
Watts and Schreiber, who split in 2016, are parents to two children: Sasha, 17, and Kai, 16. Watts’ raw and honest account in her book offers insight into her emotional and physical journey, shedding light on the sacrifices and determination many women face during their fertility struggles.