Elliot Page came out as transgender in December 2020, and announced to the world that his pronouns are ‘he/they’. It was a milestone in his life, given that he had to shed his former identity and begin anew. While this news was received with love and acceptance, there was some hatred, too.
🚨 Limited Time Offer | Express Premium with ad-lite for just Rs 2/ day 👉🏽 Click here to subscribe 🚨
But, Elliot had written in his coming out note that he loves that he is “trans and queer”. “And the more I hold myself close and fully embrace who I am, the more I dream, the more my heart grows and the more I thrive.”
For Esquire‘s summer 2022 cover story titled ‘The Euphoria of Elliot Page‘, the actor talked about his transition, his life, and career.
Best of Express PremiumPremiumUPSC Key-June 3, 2022: Why and What to know about ‘Good Taliban Bad Talib…PremiumIn words and between the lines, the messages in RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat&#…PremiumRemembering Paul Brass: A scholar of identity politics and violence in No…PremiumTony Fadell Interview: ‘I see pain-killing products all over, you just ha…More Premium Stories >>
Buy Now | Our best subscription plan now has a special price
“I can’t overstate the biggest joy, which is really seeing yourself. I know I look different to others, but to me I’m just starting to look like myself. It’s indescribable, because I’m just like, there I am. And thank God. Here I am. So the greatest joy is just being able to feel present, literally, just to be present,” The Umbrella Academy actor told the publication.
‘I felt like a boy’: Elliot Page graces the cover of TIME magazine
|He also talked about childhood bullying, stating that he went to a different school every year during high school. “I never really had that single teacher mentor… Bullying puts you in a place where, later, you have so much unlearning to do. If you’re getting teased and made fun of and called names on a daily basis, there’s no way that’s not going to get inside of you — particularly when you’re already feeling so much shame.”
View this post on Instagram
Elliot added that he was a “pretty serious soccer player as a kid”, and that he “loved discipline” and “loved learning about teamwork”. “As a kid, it was complicated in relation to my gender. I remember the year the genders were separated. I was so distraught… I was crying to my mum, ‘Please, one more year, one more year!’ When I was playing with the boys — soccer, touch football, out back during recess and lunch — I was having a blast. They let me play one more year, then I had to go to the girls’ team. I looked like the other boys, which I was,” he was quoted as saying.
‘It is life-saving’: Elliot Page opens up about surgery
|The actor talked about his transition, admitting that he did not “expect it to be so big”. “In terms of the actual quality of the response, it was what I expected: love and support from many people and hatred and cruelty and vitriol from so many others. I came out as gay in 2014, and it’s different. Transphobia is just so, so, so extreme. The hatred and the cruelty is so much more incessant.”
View this post on Instagram
Elliot talked about his workout routine, too, sharing that he has “never worked out more in [his] life”. “Working out always felt like such a conundrum, because it didn’t feel good.” He added that he would walk and hike, but that was the extent of it. But things have changed after transition.
“The experience of being in my body now is so different. I’m absolutely hooked. The feeling of being really engaged with it, present, pushing it and getting stronger and gaining weight. It’s thrilling. I feel like a kid doing it.”
Elliot Page memoir ‘Pageboy’ to be published in 2023
|When he was shooting Inception, Elliot said he could “not leave whatever hotel [he’d] be staying in”. “I struggled with food. Intense depression, anxiety, severe panic attacks. I couldn’t function. There were days when I’d only have one meeting, and I’d leave my house to go to the meeting and have to turn around.”
View this post on Instagram
He added that he could not “picture [himself] as a woman aging”. “It was just like, what is my future? There’s not a future. That’s kind of what it felt like. I would say, verbatim: I’ve never been a girl. I’ll never be a woman.”
View this post on Instagram
The Juno actor talked about the prospect of having kids, sharing with the publication: “I feel like I’ve also had to take care of myself so much. I’m obsessed with my dog. That’s my kid. I’m good with that. I mean, if I met someone who had a kid, I’m not completely closed off to the idea that maybe when I’m older, I could adopt a kid who’s older, you know. But no.”
📣