Yes, I’m afraid you’ll have to generate a completely new account. It’s happened to me twice over the last 5 or so years.
I only use AW to read profile details and see pictures – never to make a booking – so rarely actually log in. So, I, too, hadn’t logged in for months and with this age verification lark I tried and, like you, was rejected. Even the (different) email address I’d used over 5 years ago was rejected!
Not too difficult, though.
