Naomi Watts has a stellar career to her name with her astounding versatility. The British actor has appeared in several movies across genres including Mulholland Drive, 21 Grams, and of course, King Kong. But beyond the showbiz, the actor has carried a childhood trauma that affected her life and shaped her career.
Watts rose above the ashes of deep desolation and she has forged her life and career from the scratches. The ex-wife of X-Men Origins: Wolverine’s Sabretooth star Liev Schreiber revealed that her trauma began at the age of just four when her mother Myfanwy ‘Miv’ Edwards Roberts split from her dad, Peter Watts.
The Tragic Life of Naomi Watts
Naomi Watts endured a devastating past witnessing the horror of her parents’ split when she was just four. Four years later when her mother, Myfanwy ‘Miv’ Edwards who was an antique dealer and costume designer left her father Peter Watts, she had to endure the loss of her father who served the iconic rock band Pink Floyd.
Further, the actor had to change nine different schools in England before her family moved to Australia. However, the bumpy roads in her childhood did not metastasize into her decision-making and life goals. Watts prevailed and rose over all the odds in her childhood.
“So, a lot of moving, a lot of new schools, a lot of reinventing myself. ‘How do I get into that group? How do I get accepted? Who should I be? Who do you want me to be?'” Watts said (via The Things).
The International star will never get over the death of her father who was a sound engineer for Pink Floyd. The band has helped Watts and her mother financially after her father’s death at the age of 31 but the struggle for her and her mother was far from evaporating.
Naomi Watts Still Mourns The Loss Of Her Father
Peter Watts died of a suspected heroin overdose and his loss was engraved in her mind. The actor revealed that she still mourns the death of her father. Watts’ mother Edwards also spoke about enduring the loss of her husband and how it traumatized her daughter. “It left scars,” she told the Daily Mail Australia (via NME).
“It was a shock. His death made Naomi incredibly determined. It had a profound effect on her, as it did on the entire family. It’s a terrible thing to happen to anyone, especially at that age when she needed her dad. We had no inkling he was using heroin at all.”
The Ring actor also revealed the affliction has haunted her since her childhood to this date but she found a way to cope with it. “The grief never goes away,” she told Marie Claire Australia (via The Things). But “playing [different roles in movies], you find new ways of understanding it,” she added.
“Still to this day as a 55-year-old woman I wish I’d witnessed what it was like to have a father to speak to at various times in my life. I wish that he’d been there to pat me on the back when I’ve had successful moments or complex moments that I’ve been troubled by.”
The utter grief in her life remained but that paved the way for the actor to add the same on-screen playing different roles. She endures her mourning phase by playing the characters pouring her natural sadness.
