Elliot Page Opens Up About His Transition and Feeling Seen and Present
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
After coming out as transgender in December 2020, Elliot Page is detailing the joy he feels to live life as his authentic self.
In a new interview with Esquire, Elliot, in his own words, shared the biggest lesson he learned from transitioning and said that he never believed he would feel the sense of freedom or degree of happiness he experiences now.
“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,” he said. “Here I am. So the greatest joy is just being able to feel present, literally, just to be present.
“To go out in a group of new people and be able to engage in a way where I didn’t feel this constant sensation to flee from my body, this never-ending sensation of anxiety and nervousness and wanting out,” he continued.
Elliot and other trans people continue to face staggering levels of hate and discrimination on an everyday basis, which the actor expressed in describing a recent disturbing incident. When trying to cross the street, Elliot was the target of one man’s stream of homophobic slurs and hatefulness. He further explained that although the reaction to his transition was met with lots of love and support from loved ones, it was also the subject of “hated 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,” he said.
Elliot noted that activism is paramount, and for him, it “feels natural and organic.”
“It feels worse when I’m not actively engaged. And I don’t think it stems from feeling some sort of pressure or obligation. I hope it comes from a place of, inherently, empathy,” he said. “But then on some level, yeah, activism is something I must do. I think we need to utilize all of our privilege in our own ways. We all have some version of it, you know?”
The actor also touched on Netflix’s The Umbrella Academy, the action-adventure series about superheroes that he’s starred in since 2019. In the third season of the series, which premieres on the streaming service on June 22, Elliot’s character will come out as transgender. He will now be known as Viktor Hargreeves and use he/him/his pronouns.
“I love making The Umbrella Academy. I’ve learned how special it is to play one character for so long, to evolve with a family of characters,” he said.
“All of us have gone through a lot. Years have gone by, and we’ve changed and grown in our own ways,” he continued. “I love watching the growth happen alongside the show, our personalities interweaving and all of us having our own moments. I’m just learning to love the whole journey of it.”
You Might Also Like
