Elliot Page has reflected on his life and the joy of seeing himself after transitioning, saying: "I'm starting to look like myself".
More than a year since the 35-year-old Umbrella Academy star came out as transgender, the actor has spoken out on his journey in a new interview with Esquire.
"I can't overstate the biggest joy, which is really seeing yourself," he said in an interview for the publication's summer issue. "I know I look different to others, but to me, I'm just starting to look like myself. It's indescribable, because I'm just like, there I am.
"And thank God. Here I am."
Page said that prior to his transition, he didn't think he'd ever feel present, adding: "The greatest joy is just being able to feel present, literally, just to be present."
Page has previously opened up about the struggles he faced before transitioning.
Speaking on the Apple TV+ series The Oprah Conversation last year, Page recalled the personal battle of having to wear "a dress and heels to pretty much every single event" while promoting the 2010 Christopher Nolan epic, Inception.
Opening up to Winfrey about a specific moment during the movie's premiere in Paris, Page recalled that his manager - who he assures is "like family" to the star - presented three dresses to the actor while in the hotel room prior to walking the red carpet.
"And I just like, I lost it," he recalled. "I got so... it was like a cinematic moment. The kind of thing that would be in a movie."
The actor would eventually pick a black and grey asymmetric dress for the evening, but following the screening, the turmoil he was facing became too much.
"After the premiere, at the after-party, I collapsed. That was something that's happened frequently in my life, usually corresponding with a panic attack," he said, adding: "I’m sure the two correlate, and the whole period correlates.
"Ultimately, it's every experience you’ve had since you were a toddler, people saying, 'The way you’re sitting, that’s not ladylike, the way you’re walking, you’re walking like a boy, the music you’re listening to as a teenager, the way you dress' - every aspect of who you are being looked at and put in a box in a very binary system. That's what it leads to."
Fortunately, Page is now able to be his true self.
In fact, back in April he took part in an Instagram Live interview during Trans Week of Visibility and Action, and told activists Raquel Willis and Chase Strangio about how it felt to wear a tux to the 2022 Oscars.
"I feel the best I've ever felt like, like, I feel the way that I really never thought was possible," Page said. "I know the challenges I've gone through and I know how difficult it has been for me. The enormous amount of privilege, the enormous amount of resources I've had absolutely, unequivocally saved my life — from therapy to my surgery, and so many things between."
The Inception actor feels joy in being able to live as his true self and is an advocate for the LGBTQ+ community. He received the annual achievement award at Outfest in Los Angeles last year, as reported by E! News.
"Now more than ever, it is so important for our voices to be amplified and represented in film and media," he said in a statement, "and for people to hear our stories."
