Elliot Page sat down for an interview with Oprah to talk about his new life as an openly trans man. Their conversation will premiere tomorrow on Apple TV+. Elliot was also interviewed (by trans journalist Thomas Page McBee) for a feature with Vanity Fair. In it, he explains that he did the Oprah interview to use his platform to speak out against anti-trans activists and lawmakers and fight for trans kids. Elliot says he’s known he was a boy since he was a toddler. Well, and he also probably did the Oprah interview because you can’t truly say you’ve been interviewed until Oprah lowers her eyeglasses while looking at you and says, “Now, tell me about YOUR TRUTH.”
Elliot tells Vanity Fair:
All trans people are so different, and my story’s absolutely just my story. But yes, when I was a little kid, absolutely, 100%, I was a boy. I knew I was a boy when I was a toddler. I was writing fake love letters and signing them “Jason.” Every little aspect of my life, that is who I was, who I am, and who I knew myself to be. I just couldn’t understand when I’d be told, “No, you’re not. No, you can’t be that when you’re older.” You feel it. Now I’m finally getting myself back to feeling like who I am, and it’s so beautiful and extraordinary, and there’s a grief to it in a way.
Elliot tells Thomas that he feels “a significant difference in my ability to just exist” after transitioning. Thomas says, “It feels to me like you’re describing a sense of being present”, and Elliot agrees. He says, “this is the first time I’ve even felt really present with people”, without all the anxiety.
Thomas also asked Elliot why he wanted to sit down with Oprah at this moment in time. Elliot says the backlash against trans lives is “so intense” and anti-trans bills are going to be responsible for the deaths of children:
I don’t want it to sound like, “Look at me.” It’s not that at all. Actually, I was really nervous. But I thought about it for a bit, and it just felt like, Okay, the GOP basically wants to destroy the lives of trans kids and stop the Equality Act. How do you not use this platform?
A few clips of the Oprah interview have been released ahead of tomorrow’s premiere. Elliot discussed his decision to come out as trans in a letter posted to Instagram last December. He says some people in his life were aware he was trans, and he had to “become comfortable in myself” to come out publicly. But he says with all the backlash against trans people, “it really felt imperative to do so.”
Elliot posted that clip on his Instagram:
View this post on Instagram
Oprah asks Elliot about what has brought him the most joy since transitioning:
It’s the little things…getting out of the shower and the towel’s around your waist and you’re looking at yourself in the mirror and you’re just like, ‘There I am. And I’m not having the moment where I’m panicked. I’m not having all these little moments that used to be… just being in a T-shirt! It’s being able to touch my chest and feel comfortable in my body, probably for the first time.
Here’s that clip:
He also discussed getting the decision to go public about getting top surgery:
I wanted to talk about it for a couple of reasons. I wanted to share with people just how much it has changed my life. And I want people to know that not only has it been life changing for me, I do believe it is life saving and it’s the case for so many people… and because there is such an attack on trans health care right now, when already there is such a lack of access or trans people who don’t even want to go to the doctor.
Here’s the clip:
This looks like a very important interview, and when I watch it I will do my darndest to not get distracted by the strand of white hair on Elliot’s right shoulder. I think we can all guess who the culprit was:
love Elliot page but this dog (?) has my attention pic.twitter.com/kuCKmLKR4a
— Noa (@demonwife3000) March 16, 2021
Pic: YouTube
