Elliot Page gives first interview since coming out as trans with TIME magazine cover

16 March 2021, 16:07 | Updated: 16 March 2021, 19:30

Elliot Page in 2019 — Elliot Page has featured in a TIME Magazine feature. Picture: Rich Polk/Getty Images for IMDb

By Jenny Mensah

The actor has opened up for the first time about his journey to becoming a transgender man and revealed his "lifesaving" top surgery.

Elliot Page has featured on the cover of TIME Magazine and opened up about this transgender journey.

The actor trended across the globe last year when he revealed that he was trans and his pronouns were "he/they".

Now, the Umbrella Academy star has given his first interview since the announcement, appearing in a feature in the magazine, where he talks about his identity and undertaking chest surgery.

Sharing the cover on their own Twitter account, he wrote: "With deep respect for those who came before me, gratitude for those who have supported me & great concern for the generation of trans youth we must all protect, please join me and decry anti-trans legislation, hate & discrimination in all its forms."

With deep respect for those who came before me, gratitude for those who have supported me & great concern for the generation of trans youth we must all protect, please join me and decry anti-trans legislation, hate & discrimination in all its forms. pic.twitter.com/5yr8TYywTn
— Elliot Page (@TheElliotPage) March 16, 2021

"I felt like a boy," Page said of his childhood. "I wanted to be a boy. I would ask my mom if I could be someday."

Despite coming out as gay in 2014 and getting married to choreographer Emma Portner in 2018, Page revealed how he still experienced body dysmorphia and was never fully comfortable in his own skin.

"The difference in how I felt before coming out as gay to after was massive," he said."But did the discomfort in my body ever go away? No, no, no, no."

In the interview, which also includes images of Page as a child, the Juno actor opened up about undergoing "top surgery," which he says he's looked forward to since the "total hell" of puberty.

"It has completely transformed my life,” he says adding that top surgery was "not only life-changing but lifesaving."

The actor's mother also supports him completely. "She wants me to be who I am and supports me fully," Page says. "It is a testament to how people really change."

However, Page does recognise how lucky he is and wants to use his platform to help those who don't have a voice.

"My privilege has allowed me to have resources to get through and to be where I am today," he said, "and of course I want to use that privilege and platform to help in the ways I can".

Discussing recent US legislation aimed at restricting trans rights, he added: "If we could just celebrate all the wonderful complexities of people, the world would be such a better place."