Since coming out as transgender in December 2020, Elliot Page has become the face of advocacy for the protection of trans rights — especially in a time when those very rights are being threatened.
According to Vanity Fair, “In the months since Page’s initial (coming out) post, more than 30 state legislatures have proposed more than 115 bills that would limit health care and other rights for trans people, with an emphasis on trans children. So far eight explicitly anti-LGBTQ bills have been signed into law in the United States this year, and 10 more sit on governors’ desks.”
In a highly anticipated interview with Oprah Winfrey, which will be available to watch on Apple TV+ from April 30, Page revealed how crucial he felt it was to share his truth, something that was in part facilitated by the time spent alone during the pandemic lockdown.
“Knowing the pain and the difficulties and struggles I faced in my life, let alone what so many other people are facing, it absolutely felt crucial and important for me to share that,” he said.
Speaking with Thomas Page McBee ahead of the sit down with Winfrey, the actor explained that the decision to speak to the legendary interviewer had not come easily saying, “It was something I needed to sit with for a moment because the backlash right now is so intense. But the rhetoric coming from anti-trans activists and anti-LGBTQ activists — it’s devastating.
“These bills are going to be responsible for the death of children. It is that simple. So [talking to Oprah] felt like an opportunity to use a wide-reaching platform to speak from my heart about some of my experience and the resources I’ve been able to access —whether therapy or surgery — that have allowed me to be alive, to live my life.”
In his Time magazine cover interview, Page revealed that he had undergone top surgery, a process he called “not only life-changing but lifesaving.” The Umbrella Academy star told Oprah, “Getting out of the shower and the towel’s around your waist, and you’re looking at yourself in the mirror and you’re just like, ‘there I am’ and I’m not having the moment where I’m panicked.”
Page explained in his Time interview that he had known he was a boy from a very young age but had felt stifled by the expectations of Hollywood who wanted him to look and dress a certain way — particularly on red carpets,
During their conversation, Winfrey explained that she had first become familiar with Page when he starring in the Oscar-winning film Juno — a period that Page describes as being extremely intense.
I remember it felt so impossible to communicate with people about how unwell I was,” he said, visibly emotional. “There is so much excitement, the film unexpectedly became a big hit, I became quite known.”
“The Oscars, for example, I could not look at a photo from that red carpet – and again, people might watch this and be like ‘Oh my gosh, this person is crying about the night where they went to the Oscars?'”.
Page has found immense joy and freedom in being able to live their authentic life and expressed these sentiments to both McBee and Winfrey.
“The most significant difference is that I’m really able to just exist,” he told McBee for Vanity Fair.
“For the first time in, I don’t even know how long, [I am] really just being able to sit by myself, be on my own, be productive, and be creative. It’s such an oversimplification to say it this way, but I’m comfortable. I feel a significant difference in my ability to just exist—and not even just day to day, but moment to moment.”
The Inception actor reaffirmed this feeling to Winfrey during their interview also, saying, “From where I’m sitting now, all I know is the degree of comfort, sense of home, ability to be present, feels so profound and life-changing. And so what I look forward to is getting to move through the world in that way.”
The Opera Conversation with Elliot Page is available to stream on Apple TV+ on April 30, 2021.
If you or someone you know is in need of information on the transgender community, Trans Pride Australia creates a safe and supportive space to “connect with other TGD people and family, friends and allies in a closed online environment.”
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