Elliot Page has spoken of the pressure to remain closeted in Hollywood, before his decision to come out first as gay and, subsequently, trans.
The Juno star, who has penned a memoir titled ‘Pageboy’, told the UK’s Guardian:
“I can obviously only speak to my experience, but yes, my experience is that there was intense pressure to be not only closeted but to act and appear and perform like someone I wasn’t and someone I’m not.
“Cis, trans, whatever – it doesn’t matter: the actor being told not to be your authentic self was a constant, and quite frankly it made me extremely unwell. I think back to the degree of how closeted I was and I’m just like: wow. It’s like watching a movie in my head. It was so extreme, and so were the feelings. I believed at certain points: ‘This is what my entire life is going to be.’”
Page, who detailed the anxiety and mental ill health he suffered as a result as well as being assaulted as a young actor by two members of the production of his 2005 film Hard Candy, added in the interview that he thought his decision to come out as gay in 2014 may well continue to be a factor in decisions on whether to cast him in roles.
“I’m not in the rooms where those people are having those conversations, but I would imagine so.” Asked if the case was the same for his decision to announce his transition, Page answered: “Again, it’s so tricky because I’m not in the rooms where people are chatting.”
When he came out in 2020, he changed his name to Elliot in tribute to the (human) hero of the film E.T. He also has a tattoo which says, “EP phone home.”