Becca Longmire - Yesterday- ESQUIRE
Elliot Page feels like he can finally just be himself.
© Photo credit: RUVEN AFANADOR Elliot Page.
The Canadian actor speaks to Esquire for their summer issue on what he has learned from transitioning, telling the magazine: “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.
"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.
"When I say I couldn’t have ever imagined feeling that way, I mean that with every sense of me," he adds.
Page shares of the reaction to his transition, "I didn’t 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."
Elsewhere in the candid interview, Page talks about his love of working out: “I’ve never worked out more in my life. Working out always felt like such a conundrum, because it didn’t feel good. I walked and I hiked, but that was it. 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.”
He adds of starring in "The Umbrella Academy": “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.
"All of us have gone through a lot. Years have gone by, and we’ve changed and grown in our own ways. 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.”
The full interview is on Esquire and in the new summer issue, available everywhere by June 7.
Elliot Page on His Daunting Pre-Transition Struggle: 'That S– Literally Did Almost Kill Me'
Charna Flam - Yesterday -THE WRAP
In the spotlight for more than a decade, Elliot Page's internal battles with gender identity and opinions on certain roles are familiar to many.
But in a personal essay published to Esquire, Page says his battle with depression and anxiety before his transgender transition were not overblown.
"I wish people would understand that that s— literally did almost kill me," Page wrote in the essay published Wednesday.
Also read:
Elliot Page's 'Umbrella Academy' Character Comes Out as Transgender in Season 3
Before his 2020 transition, Page starred in hits from "Juno" to "The Umbrella Academy." But in Page's Esquire essay, "The Euphoria of Elliot Page," he divulges how he was ultimately affected by the reception to his transition and his apprehension with future roles.
"I came out as gay in 2014, and it's different," he said of America's shift in attitude. "Transphobia is just so, so, so extreme. The hatred and the cruelty is so much more incessant."
The success of "Juno" was impactful to Page, he wrote. But because of Fox Searchlight's aggressive demand for Page to present as the film's feminine figure, Page battled depression and anxiety.
Page, elaborating that the reaction to his transition was what he expected, said he received "love and support from many people and hatred and cruelty and vitriol from so many others." As a member of the LGBTQ+ community since 2014, Page said he anticipated a range of reactions to his transition announcement versus coming out.
Also read:
Elliot Page to Release Memoir 'Pageboy' in 2023
As the trajectory of Page's career ran in tandem with his gender-identity battles, he clarifies his gender identity shouldn't validate or invalidate his upcoming roles.
"I think when people say, 'Oh, he'll want to play cis male characters now,' the sensation I get is that the subtext is, they think that would be an accomplishment for me, versus I'm trans, I'm queer, and I want to play those roles," Page wrote.
Specifically, how he believes his "type" lends authenticity to roles about transgender characters.
"When I get asked, 'Are you worried about getting typecast?' You wouldn't say to J-Law or Rooney Mara or someone, are they worried about getting typecast as cis straight women? " Page explained.
Also read:
GLAAD Slams Ricky Gervais for 'Anti-Trans Rants' in Netflix Special
Though this claim refutes his personal professional aspirations, Page clarified what he wants for the transgender community.
"But at the same time, of course I want a space where trans people are getting cast as cis characters. Of course," Page wrote.
As Page details the complexity of being a trans actor, and playing either cis or trans roles, he remains hopeful for the community, as media perception and depiction of the trans community converts to the perceptions and attitudes of the larger community.
Also read:
Lil Nas X Calls Out BET Over Awards Snub in Now-Deleted Tweets
Although hopeful, Page acknowledged the difficulties of the ongoing "conversations."
"Why are people making it more difficult?" Page wrote. "It really breaks my heart. It really breaks my heart. That's literally all we're trying to communicate."
Charna Flam - Yesterday -THE WRAP
In the spotlight for more than a decade, Elliot Page's internal battles with gender identity and opinions on certain roles are familiar to many.
But in a personal essay published to Esquire, Page says his battle with depression and anxiety before his transgender transition were not overblown.
"I wish people would understand that that s— literally did almost kill me," Page wrote in the essay published Wednesday.
Also read:
Elliot Page's 'Umbrella Academy' Character Comes Out as Transgender in Season 3
Before his 2020 transition, Page starred in hits from "Juno" to "The Umbrella Academy." But in Page's Esquire essay, "The Euphoria of Elliot Page," he divulges how he was ultimately affected by the reception to his transition and his apprehension with future roles.
"I came out as gay in 2014, and it's different," he said of America's shift in attitude. "Transphobia is just so, so, so extreme. The hatred and the cruelty is so much more incessant."
The success of "Juno" was impactful to Page, he wrote. But because of Fox Searchlight's aggressive demand for Page to present as the film's feminine figure, Page battled depression and anxiety.
Page, elaborating that the reaction to his transition was what he expected, said he received "love and support from many people and hatred and cruelty and vitriol from so many others." As a member of the LGBTQ+ community since 2014, Page said he anticipated a range of reactions to his transition announcement versus coming out.
Also read:
Elliot Page to Release Memoir 'Pageboy' in 2023
As the trajectory of Page's career ran in tandem with his gender-identity battles, he clarifies his gender identity shouldn't validate or invalidate his upcoming roles.
"I think when people say, 'Oh, he'll want to play cis male characters now,' the sensation I get is that the subtext is, they think that would be an accomplishment for me, versus I'm trans, I'm queer, and I want to play those roles," Page wrote.
Specifically, how he believes his "type" lends authenticity to roles about transgender characters.
"When I get asked, 'Are you worried about getting typecast?' You wouldn't say to J-Law or Rooney Mara or someone, are they worried about getting typecast as cis straight women? " Page explained.
Also read:
GLAAD Slams Ricky Gervais for 'Anti-Trans Rants' in Netflix Special
Though this claim refutes his personal professional aspirations, Page clarified what he wants for the transgender community.
"But at the same time, of course I want a space where trans people are getting cast as cis characters. Of course," Page wrote.
As Page details the complexity of being a trans actor, and playing either cis or trans roles, he remains hopeful for the community, as media perception and depiction of the trans community converts to the perceptions and attitudes of the larger community.
Also read:
Lil Nas X Calls Out BET Over Awards Snub in Now-Deleted Tweets
Although hopeful, Page acknowledged the difficulties of the ongoing "conversations."
"Why are people making it more difficult?" Page wrote. "It really breaks my heart. It really breaks my heart. That's literally all we're trying to communicate."
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