Elliot Page: Undergoing Top Surgery ‘Transformed My Life’
Elliot Page revealed he underwent top surgery as part of his transgender journey, in his first interview since disclosing in December that he is transgender via a letter posted to Instagram.
In his recent Time magazine cover story, Elliot recalled when he was finally allowed to cut his hair short at age 9. “I felt like a boy. I wanted to be a boy. I would ask my mom if I could be someday.”
A few months later, Page got his big break when he was casted on TV show Pit Pony. Playing the role of a daughter in a Canadian mining family, he had to grow his hair out again. “I became a professional actor at the age of 10. Of course I had to look a certain way.”
Fast forward to when Elliot made his Instagram announcement, “What I was anticipating was a lot of support and love and a massive amount of hatred and transphobia,” 34-year-old Page said. “That’s essentially what happened.”
He didn’t anticipate just how big the story would be — it made him one of the most famous out trans people in the world, he started trending on Twitter in more than 20 countries, and he gained more than 400,000 new followers on Instagram on that day alone.
Page feels a deep sense of responsibility to share his truth, saying “Extremely influential people are spreading these myths and damaging rhetoric—every day you’re seeing our existence debated. Transgender people are so very real.”
After posting to Instagram, he was already recovering in Toronto from his top surgery. Page described the surgery as something that made it possible to finally recognize himself when he looks in the mirror.
“It has completely transformed my life.” He said he spent most of his life being uncomfortable in his body, but has been reinvigorated with getting that energy back.
After 2007’s Juno, Page became increasingly uncomfortable in his feminine roles saying, “For a long time I could not even look at a photo of myself.”
Per Time, Page came out as gay in 2014, despite feeling for years that “being out was impossible” given his career. In an emotional speech at a Human Rights Campaign conference, Page said “There are pervasive stereotypes about masculinity and femininity that define how we’re all supposed to act, dress and speak. And they serve no one.”
Page married choreographer Emma Portner in 2018, with the pair separating last summer, followed by a divorce early this year. According to the outlet, the divorce was lead on in part due to the isolation forced by the pandemic which brought Page’s wrestling with gender to a head.
“After much thought and careful consideration, we have made the difficult decision to divorce following our separation last summer,” the pair said in a joint statement. “We have the utmost respect for each other and remain close friends.”
Elliot Page is currently filming the third season of Netflix’s The Umbrella Academy in Toronto.
