Elliot Page & His Gender Identity: His Journey As A Trans Man So Far

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• Elliot Page is an actor, renowned for his Oscar-nominated performance in ‘Juno’ and his role on ‘The Umbrella Academy.’
• Elliot came out as a trans man in December 2020.
• He opens up about his career in his new memoir ‘Pageboy.’

Elliot Page is opening up about his gender identity in his new memoir Pageboy, being released on June 6. The actor, 36, opens up about how he experienced gender dysphoria and eventually came out as a trans man in the forthcoming book. Since coming out, he’s been a very vocal advocate for the LGBTQ+ community and the trans community in particular.

While the book is expected to cover many details about Elliot’s life in the entertainment industry as well as his journey as a trans man, he’s already shared different moments from his life in interviews and through social media. Find out more about Elliot’s journey with his gender identity here.

Elliot Page & His Hollywood Start

Born in Canada in 1987, Elliot has been acting since he was a kid. His first TV role was in the movie Pit Pony as Maggie MacLean, and he later reprised the role in the TV series for 29 episodes. One of his breakout roles came in 2005’s Hard Candy, when he was a teen. He continued to go on to other massively popular movies, like 2006’s X-Men: The Last Stand, where he played the superhero Kitty Pryde/Shadowcat. He reprised the role of Kitty in X-Men: Days of Future Past in 2014.

One of his most remembered roles came in 2007 when he starred as the title character in the teen dramedy Juno, which chronicles a teen pregnancy. Elliot’s performance as Juno was widely acclaimed and remains a beloved film from the late aughts. Elliot also received a Best Leading Actress Academy Award nomination in 2008. Besides Juno, he also had a role in the critically-acclaimed psychological thriller Inception in 2010.

Elliot Page’s Former Name

Before Elliot came out as trans, he publicly presented as a woman and his birth name was Ellen. Before speaking out about his gender identity, Elliot publicly identified as a gay woman, coming out in 2014 at Time To Thrive, an LGBTQ+ conference, per The Hollywood Reporter. “Maybe I can make a difference, to help others have an easier and more hopeful time. Regardless, for me, I feel a personal obligation and a social responsibility,” he said after announcing that he was gay. “I suffered for years because I was scared to be out. My spirit suffered, my mental health suffered and my relationships suffered. And I’m standing here today, with all of you, on the other side of all that pain.”

Before publicly coming out, Elliot accused X-Men: The Last Stand director Brett Ratner of outing him and making homophobic remarks on-set in a since-deleted 2017 Facebook post, per The Guardian. He said that Brett had told women on set, “You should f**k her to make her realize she’s gay.” In the post, Elliot called him out for his language and for outing him against his will. ” knew I was gay, but did not know, so to speak. I felt violated when this happened,” they wrote. “This man, who had cast me in the film, started our months of filming at a work event with this horrific, unchallenged plea. He ‘outed’ me with no regard for my well-being, an act we all recognize as homophobic.”

Besides the X-Men director outing him, the Umbrella Academy actor also recalled a run-in with an unnamed co-star making homophobic remarks to him, shortly after coming out as gay, in his memoir. While Elliot said he was an acquaintance, he said the unnamed A-list star had told him, “You aren’t gay. That doesn’t exist. You are just afraid of men” at a party. He also said the actor said, “I’m going to f**k you to make you realize you aren’t gay.” He said that he ran into the actor a few days after the run-in at the gym, and he said he didn’t “have a problem with gay people,” per People. 

Elliot Page’s Relationships

After first coming out as gay, Elliot has only had one public relationship. He began dating dancer Emma Portner, 28, in 2017. The pair got married in 2018, and they each made announcements on their Instagram pages. “Can’t believe I get to call this extraordinary woman my wife,” Elliot wrote in the since-deleted post, per People. Unfortunately, the relationship ended three years later, when they filed for divorce in January 2021, per Entertainment Tonight. “After much thought and careful consideration, we have made the difficult decision to divorce following our separation last summer,” they said in a joint statement. “We have the utmost respect for each other and remain close friends.”

Shortly after coming out, Elliot revealed that he had a secret relationship with Kate Mara around the time she was dating Max Minghella. He opens up about the relationship in the memoir, and he revealed that Kate had read the book in the interview with People. He said that the two still have “love” and “care for each other,” even though their relationship didn’t work out. “I think my relationship, or whatever you want to call it with Kate, very much encapsulates a certain dynamic that I consistently found myself in, which was falling for people that — I think a lot of us do this — who aren’t fully available. And the sort of safety in that and the highs and the lows and the serotonin bump, and then it goes away,” he said.

Besides his relationship with Kate Mara, Elliot also revealed that he secretly dated another actress who was in the closet. While he doesn’t identify her in the book, he said the relationship made it clear to him that he didn’t want to do that again. He said it was “painful” to hide their relationship. “Some of my closest friends didn’t even know I was in a relationship. And I was in a relationship where we were in a relationship for a decent amount of time,” he told People.

Elliot Page’s Transition

Elliot came out as a trans man in a lengthy statement on his Instagram and Twitter accounts. “Hi friends, I want to share with you that I am trans, my pronouns are he/they and my name is Elliot,” he wrote. “I love that I am trans. And I love that I am 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. To all the trans people who deal with harassment, self-loathing, abuse, and the threat of violence every day: I see you, I love you, and I will do everything I can to change this world for the better.”

Months after Elliot announced that he was trans, he revealed that he’d undergone top surgery in an interview with Time in March 2021.”It has completely transformed my life,” he said. “No matter the challenges and difficult moments of this, nothing amounts to getting to feel how I feel now.”

When Elliot came out as trans, he was starring in the popular Netflix series The Umbrella Academy. After he came out, it was announced that his character, who was known as Vanya, would also come out as trans and take on the name Viktor in Season 3. He announced the exciting news in a March 2022 tweet.

Since coming out as trans, Elliot has spoken about how happy he is to be living as his authentic self. He also has used his platform to fight for trans rights. “To have my shoulders back. I just was always kind of shut off, anxious. I used to never feel like my skin was my own,” he told People in a June 2, 2023 interview. “The reality is trans people disproportionately are unemployed, disproportionately experience homelessness. Trans women of color are being murdered. People are losing their healthcare.”

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