Elliot Page has opened up about what it was like for him to do press for the hit 2007 film Juno before he transitioned.
The 35-year-old actor - who came out as trans in 2020 - revealed that doing press and photo shoots for the movie "almost killed" him in an exclusive interview with Esquire.
Page chatted about how he had only just begun to feel comfortable in his body since his transition, saying: "I know I look different to others, but to me I’m just starting to look like myself."
He added that before, he "couldn't have ever imagined" feeling happy in his own skin, and detailed how he had suffered "intense depression, anxiety [and] severe panic attacks."
When asked at what point his mental health was at its lowest, Page pinpointed the period after Juno was released in December 2007 as particularly difficult.
The indie flick about a pregnant teenager - played by Page - was a runaway success. Ironically, this only made things harder for the actor.
"I get that people don’t understand," he said, mimicking public reactions: "Oh, f*** you, you’re famous, and you have money, and you had to wear a dress, boo-hoo."
"I don’t not understand that reaction. But that’s mixed with: I wish people would understand that that s*** literally did almost kill me," he added.
"I’ve had to have plenty of devil’s-advocate conversations with cis people who were like, 'Well, I’m not trans and I could wear a skirt!' And it’s like, cool. Okay. Great," he continued, before explaining how even he felt conflicted at the time over the disparity between his career success and his declining mental health.
"In my early to mid-twenties, I didn’t know how to tell people how unwell I was. I would berate myself for it. I was living the life and my dreams were coming true, and all that was happening. And yet, for example, when I was shooting Inception, I could pretty much not leave whatever hotel I’d be staying in," he explained.
Thankfully, Page has been in a much better place since transitioning. He described how simple acts like sitting down with a coffee and a book were now euphoric - and how he feels more at home in his own skin than ever before.
