Fame, fortune & friendship
The star talks about acting with kids, her boys and her friendship with Nicole Kidman
IIn her new film, The Book of Henry, Naomi Watts plays a single mother raising two boys. In real life the actress, 48, is a proud mother to her own two boys, Alexander, 9, and Samuel, 8, with ex Liev Schreiber. The two-time Oscar nominee—she also stars as a psychotherapist in the Netflix drama Gypsy (premiering on June 30)—sat down with WHO’S US sister magazine People’s editor-in-chief, Jess Cagle, to discuss her career, her friendship with Nicole Kidman, family life and more.
You have a lot of scenes with your two sons in The Book of Henry. Throughout your career you have done a lot of work with really extraordinary boys, such as David Dorfman in The Ring and Tom Holland in The Impossible. Yeah, I don’t have a lot of onscreen daughters. It’s funny, I always knew I would be the mother of boys, too. It’s a psychic premonition. When you became a parent, how did your approach to work change? The logistics of things, obviously, is the first massive change. Where are we going? How long? You don’t want to separate the family. Luckily, for the first few years, it wasn’t too bad because there is no school. Then preschool, it’s OK if you miss some, but now it’s much harder.
Your father passed away suddenly when you were 7. How did that affect you?
Heavily. I think growing up through your whole life, and even more so actually as an adult, you think, “Gosh, I’d love to have my father’s advice on this pickle.” Whatever the pickle is.
You became great friends with Nicole Kidman [in the early 1990s].
My first real part was the movie Flirting with Thandie Newton and Noah Taylor and, of course, Nicole. We already knew each other, but that’s when our friendship really forged. We’ve gone through a lot together over a significant amount of time. That history binds you. We have a strong respect and love for one another. If you hang out with us, you’ll have fun, I’ll promise you that.
When did you decide to start acting?
My mum was onstage in a play, and I was in the front row. I was about 4 or 5, and she had a pretty dress and a wig and was talking in a funny voice. I just remember looking up at her and thinking, “Wow!” It just was such a wonderful world to watch.
When you were a young woman in Australia, what was the first big break?
I started off with modelling, but I was never tall and didn’t have that high-fashion look. I would get sent on these commercial castings and often get those. I think there was a Tampax commercial. All humiliating.
Explain to me the tall-poppy syndrome. I’ve heard you say many Australians have that when they go to the US and achieve some success.
The poppies grow together and they’re supposed to be uniform. If one grows up too high, it means it’s got to be slashed and cut back down to size. People don’t like it if you succeed too much. It makes them feel bad. I do remember experiencing it. But you got over it? Yeah, I got over it.