‘Umbrella Academy’ Star and Oscar-Nominated ‘Juno’ Speaks Exclusively to PEOPLE About His Upcoming Memoir, ‘Pageboy’
When Elliot Page sits down to discuss his memoir, he smiles.
It has been a journey – to say the least – to get to this point. Child star in Canada, Page arrived in the American consciousness with Juno in 2007, for which he received an Oscar nomination. His subsequent films – which included Creation (2010) and Whip it (2009) – and career in television (he will soon star in the last season of Netflix THE Umbrella Academy) made him a Hollywood favorite. But along the way, Page – as he writes in his new memoir Edge – would struggle to find his identity and his place in Hollywood. Page came out publicly gay in 2014 and trans in December 2020.
Related: Elliot Page on ‘How Ease I Feel’ as a Trans Man Today: ‘I Never Felt My Skin Was Mine’ (Exclusive)
Now 36, Page can’t stop smiling. “Today I definitely feel something that I never thought I would feel,” he exclusively told PEOPLE. “I think it mostly shows in how I feel present. The kind of ease and the ability to exist. There have been times in my life when I really felt like I wasn’t. We talk about trans joy and euphoria and all that stuff and a lot of it is in silence. I feel so lucky.
Here are five reveals from Page’s new memoir, which will be released on June 6.
He was verbally abused at a party by a top actor two months after his release
In a chapter titled “Famous A—hole at Party,” Page describes going to a birthday party in Los Angeles in 2014. An actor, whom Page describes as an “acquaintance,” told Page that “you don’t you’re not gay. it does not exist. You’re just afraid of men. He then told Page, “I’m going to fuck you to make you realize you’re not gay.” They saw each other at the gym a few days later. The actor said, “I don’t have a problem with gay people, I swear.”
Related: Elliot Page Releases First Chapter Of "Pageboy" Memoir: “Grateful to be here – and alive” (Exclusive)
“I think you could,” Page told her.
“I’ve had a version of this many times throughout my life. Many queer and trans people deal with it all the time. Those moments that we love often don’t talk or that we’re supposed to brush off, when in fact it’s very awful. I put this story in the book because it’s about shining a light on reality, the bullshit we deal with, and what gets thrown at us constantly, especially in predominantly cis and heterosexual environments. How we navigate this world where you either have more extreme and overt moments like that. Or you have more subtle jokes. [In Hollywood] they are very powerful people. They are the ones who choose the stories that are told and who create content that people can see all over the world.”
“I purposely don’t share his name,” Page said, noting that many at the party saw and heard what happened. “But he’ll hear about it and know it’s him.”
He had a relationship with Kate Mara
“The first person I fell for after my heart broke was Kate Mara,” Page wrote. “She had a boyfriend at the time, the charming and talented Max Minghella.”
Page goes on to describe their romance, during which Page was filming the 2014 film. X-Men: Days of Future Past. (“Kate read the book,” Page says. Mara appears with Page at a literary event in Los Angeles in June.) Page writes that Minghella maintained that Mara was exploring her feelings for Page. “I never thought I could be in love with two people and now I know I can,” Page told Mara.
“It was right after I came out as gay and it was a time of exploration and also heartbreak,” Page says. “I think my relationship, or whatever you want to call it with Kate, sums up very well a certain dynamic that I constantly found myself in, which was falling in love with people who – I think a lot of us do that – which are not fully available. And the kind of security in that and the ups and downs and the serotonin bump, and then it goes away.”
“And I think that’s definitely a trend in my life,” he adds. Page says he and Mara are still close. “I think the love and care we have for each other is very special.
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His inspiring friendships with Catherine Keener, Kristin Wiig and Alia Shawkat helped save him
“We all love Catherine Keener, of course. Catherine who I’ve known since I was 19, and she’s been one of the most important people in my life. Not only when we were working together on a movie we were making when i was 19, called an american crime. But later, when I was back in Los Angeles during all this kind of Juno Awards season time — which was overwhelming to say the least — she let me live with her. She was someone I could count on and go to without asking questions. Since I met her, she is one of the closest people to me in my life. And one of those people without whom you really don’t know who you would be.
Related: Elliot Page Shares Shirtless Photo To Celebrate ‘Joy I Feel In My Body’ Now
Page writes that he had problems during filming Whip it and his teammates Wiig and Shawkat were there for him. “Kristen, whom I first met on SNL but on Whip it correctly, is also someone who, at very difficult and challenging times in my life, just showed up. Although it was not surprising because he is an incredible person. Alia was also a person in my life who, like Kristen, always encouraged me to be authentic myself. Encouraged me to go against the forces that were telling me not to be. So just real, grounded, sincere people who were very selfless, kind, loving friends.
He reveals his admiration for Michael Cera, whom he once watched sleeping on a plane
“How could he be so relaxed?” Page writes in her memoir, of watching Cera sleep on a plane (they flew to Los Angeles together to audition for Juno). “I used to look at people and wonder how they were so comfortable. Don’t get me wrong. And it’s not even about being happy or not, but I would just look at people I remember one ex, I was like, ‘What do you do when you wake up in the morning?’ I didn’t really understand how people got in their cars and went shopping or I didn’t understand. I actually didn’t. And I just thought I was always going to feel that way and be that kind of boring person. I’m sure the people around me were kind of like, ‘What’s his problem? He can’t pull himself together. And now I’m here. And it’s such a shame that it bothers people so much. C It’s so unfortunate that people, for whatever reason, want to take that away from trans people. I just don’t get it.
He had a painful two-year relationship with a closeted co-star he won’t name
Page acknowledges that the person he calls “Ryan” worked with him in a movie and describes that he secretly holds hands on set, but pretends to be friends elsewhere in public. He says they were followed by paparazzi, left hotels through different doors, and did not look at each other in public. Or at parties. “Some of my friends didn’t even know I was in a relationship,” Page says.
“At the end of the day, I think she loved me. We loved each other and it was very real in our bubble. It was fantastic. You know, it was really beautiful. I admired about her and how she inspired me in so many ways. But feeling hidden was way too painful. It was impossible and not a lasting relationship at all. And it taught me that I wasn’t going to do it again.
Page realizes that a hidden relationship between two LGBTQ+ partners can feel a little 1950s, which many might ask, “Oh, is it still going on today?”
“Good God, it is,” he said.
“Some of my closest friends didn’t even know I was in a relationship. And I was in a relationship where we were in a relationship for a decent amount of time. I mean, that’s the next level.
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