Elliot Page sat down with Time Magazine to discuss his transgender journey. The Umbrella Academy star revealed that he had surgery to remove his breast tissue, with the goal of having a more masculine appearance.
He said: “It has completely transformed my life,” adding that while surgery doesn’t define being trans, it gave him the freedom to escape the “total hell” that was puberty.
Page said that he first felt like “a boy” at age 9 when he was allowed to cut his hair short. “I wanted to be a boy. I would ask my mom if I could be someday.”
Page came out as transgender in December. His wife Emma Portner said she was “so proud” of Page at the time, but the pair have since split. Page filed for divorce in January, and said they split in summer. “We’ve remained close friends,” Page said.
He said of the public reaction: “What I was anticipating was a lot of support and love and a massive amount of hatred and transphobia. That’s essentially what happened.”
His name trended on Twitter in more than 20 countries after the announcement, Time noted. He gained more than 400,000 new followers on Instagram on that day alone.
Page wants to pay it forward for trans youth. He said: “There were no examples,” Page said of growing up in Halifax in the 1990s. There are many queer people who have felt “that how they feel deep inside isn’t a real thing because they never saw it reflected back to them.”
Other celebs who have transitioned include Alexis Arquette, Lana and Lilly Wachowski, Laverne Cox and Caitlyn Jenner.