You probably know him from his starring roles in hit movies and television shows like Juno, Inception, and The Umbrella Academy, but Elliot Page had some deep struggles that he kept secret from the public until recently.
Until 2014, the actor (who formerly identified as a woman named as Ellen Page) was in the closet about his true identity.
Coming Out The First Time
It wasn’t until he spoke at the “Time To Thrive” Human Rights Campaign conference on Las Vegas on Valentine’s Day that he told the world she was a homosexual woman. During his speech he exclaimed that he wanted to “…make a difference, to help others have an easier and more hopeful time.”
He continued that “Regardless, for [him], [he] feels a personal obligation and a social responsibility.” Page continued to speak about how his spirit, relationships, and mental health suffered for years due to fear of coming out. Unfortunately, he did later admit to being “outed” involuntarily in 2005 while he was filming X-Men: The Last Stand, by the film’s director.
After coming out in 2014, Elliot was featured on The Ellen Show where he discussed both the fear and the relief that he, Ellen, and the millions of other LGBTQ+ people go through during the coming out process.
There Was More To His Story
Although Elliot came out as a Lesbian in 2014, this wasn’t the end of the truth that he was keeping inside of him for his whole life. Finally, in December of 2020, Elliot decided he had had enough of the secrecy and the pretending. He could no longer deny his true identity to the world and finally came out with the truth. He identified as a transgender male.
This essentially meant that, although Elliot was born anatomically a female, inside he did not feel like a female at all. Instead, his mind and spirit did not match his physical body.
When he finally let out the truth, Elliot put out the message that he was transgender on all of his social media accounts. He explained that his pronouns are he/him and they/them, and eventually revealed what he wanted his new name to be.
What Prompted Elliot Page To Come Out When He Did?
Although Elliot later explained that he has felt this way since he was a child, his decision to come out to the public about his gender identity was mostly prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as an uptick in anti-transgeder hate and violent attacks being spread around the country.
After coming out on social media, Elliot was met with tons of love and support from the LGBTQ+ community as well as Hollywood celebrities and even government officials. More specifically, Netflix tweeted that they were “So proud of our superhero! We love you Elliot!” Even Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau gave him a shout-out of support.
Elliot Page even had the honor of being the first openly trans man to appear on the cover of an issue of Time Magazine. In the article, Page talked about having his top surgery done, which he described as a “life changing” and “life saving” procedure. Page also talked about feeling this way ever since the age of 9, where he said that he “felt like a boy… I wanted to be a boy. I would ask my mom if I could be someday”.
After publicly coming out as transgender, Elliot had an interview with Oprah where he opened up about how he was feeling after his secret was out. He explained to her, and to the world, that he is now “able to just exist”. How he no longer needs distractions and excuses for who he really is inside. He can truly just be himself, and we couldn’t be happier for him.
