This post is about mental health and could be a trigger for some readers.
In 2008, 21-year-old Elliot Page was becoming the next big thing.
He had just played the lead role in Juno, a drama about coming of age about a teenager who becomes unexpectedly pregnant.
The film was a huge success, both critically and commercially, and garnered four Oscar nominations, including a Best Actress nomination for Page’s performance.
Watch the Juno trailer here. The publication continues below.
Video using Searchlight Pictures.
But it was at the height of the film’s popularity that Page, who has since come out as a transgender, struggled more with his identity.
“During the awards season, I was closed, dressed in heels and all the look, I wasn’t okay, and I didn’t know how to talk about it with anyone,” the 35-year-old wrote in a new post. article for Esquire, which appears on the cover of June 2022.
“I can’t identify a ‘worse’ day,” Page later said.
“But when Juno exploded, that sounds weird to people, and I understand people don’t understand it. Oh, fuck, you’re famous, you have money and you had to wear a dress, boo-hoo, I don’t understand that reaction.
“But that mixes with: I’d like people to understand that shit literally killed me.”
Wearing clothes became not only mentally painful but also physically painful; to the point that the page could barely function.
“I would reprimand myself for that,” he wrote.
“I was living life and my dreams were coming true, and everything that was going on. However, for example, when I was filming Inception, I could barely get out of the hotel where I was staying.”
In December 2020, Page announced that he was transgender.