As his star went up and he started winning pieces in big box office hits like the one in 2010 Beginning and 2014 X-men: Days of a forgotten future, he started fighting depression, anxiety and panic attacks. Page said he didn’t know “how to explain to people that, although [I was] an actor, just putting on a shirt cut for a woman would make me really bad. “
But last December, he felt ready to share his truth, appearing as a transgender in an Instagram post, in which he announced his pronouns are he / they and shared his name is Elliot. “I was finally able to embrace being transgender,” he told the publication, “and allow me to become totally who I am.”
At the time of posting, as he told TIME, he was also in Toronto recovering from major surgery. Although Page noted that being transgender isn’t just about surgery – and for some surgery is unnecessary – he said it finally allowed him to see himself in the mirror and feel comfortable with himself: “It completely transformed my life.”
Although Page expected to receive love and support after his announcement, he also prepared for an “enormous amount of hatred and transphobia” – and that was, unfortunately, the case. And how is Page feeling today? “This feeling of real excitement and deep gratitude for having reached this point in my life,” he said, “mixed with a lot of fear and anxiety.”