At the beginning of the year, actor and Umbrella Academy star Elliot Page publicly came out as a transgender man. It was a surprise, as it often is, but the actor was met with an outpouring of support from fans and well-wishers (as well as the usual bout of flaming you can expect from any public website, but that’s life). Since coming out, Page has been fairly quiet on the matter, but in a recent interview with TIME Magazine, he spoke candidly about his current status.
“What I was anticipating was a lot of support and love and a massive amount of hatred and transphobia,” he said. “That’s essentially what happened.”
In spite of the dichotomy of reactions, the change has been very positive for Page’s mental state. “I’m fully who I am,” he said.
“This feeling of true excitement and deep gratitude to have made it to this point in my life, mixed with a lot of fear and anxiety.”
The primary contributor to his realization was the isolation of the COVID-19 pandemic, which gave him the time and space necessary to figure a few things out. “I had a lot of time on my own to really focus on things that I think, in so many ways, unconsciously, I was avoiding,” Page said. “I was finally able to embrace being transgender and letting myself fully become who I am.”
“I’m fully who I am.” Actor Elliot Page and the fight for trans equality https://t.co/ozlpoqa2sb pic.twitter.com/OAKogfmoRx
— TIME (@TIME) March 16, 2021
Page has expressed hopes that he can use his story as a means of educating the world on what it means to be transgender, and hopefully aid those in need of a support network. “Extremely influential people are spreading these myths and damaging rhetoric — every day you’re seeing our existence debated. Transgender people are so very real,” he explained. “My privilege has allowed me to have resources to get through and to be where I am today, and of course I want to use that privilege and platform to help in the ways I can.”
“We know who we are,” Page concluded. “People cling to these firm ideas (about gender) because it makes people feel safe. But if we could just celebrate all the wonderful complexities of people, the world would be such a better place.”
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