“It’s being able to touch my chest and feel comfortable in my body for probably the first time.”
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Canadian actor and activist Elliot Page is opening about his life since coming out as transgender.
Page is set to give his first on-camera interview with Oprah Winfrey on the series The Oprah Conversation, which will be available to stream on AppleTV+ on April 30, and the streaming service has dropped a moving sneak peek ahead of time.
In the sit down, Oprah asks the Oscar-nominated actor, who currently stars in Netflix’s The Umbrella Academy, what has brought him the most joy since sharing the news publicly.
“Goodness, what has brought me the most joy?” Page responds, taking a moment to think.
“It’s getting out of the shower and the towel’s around your waist and you’re looking at yourself in the mirror and you’re like, ‘There I am.’ And I’m not having the moment where I’m panicked. I’m not having all of these little moments that used to be…” he continues, getting choked up. “It’s… being able to touch my chest and feel comfortable in my body for the… probably the first time.”
Visibly emotional, Page tells Oprah that they are “tears of joy.”
In another preview clip from the interview, Page opened up to Oprah about the moment he decided to go public with the news. “I was expressing this to people in my life before posting that letter … I wanted a moment to become comfortable in myself and to be able to get to that point,” he says. “With this time we’re in right now, with horrible backlash [that] we’re seeing towards trans people, particularly trans youth, it felt really imperative to [come out]. It felt important and selfish for myself and my own wellbeing and mental health. And also with this platform that I have, the privilege that I have, knowing the pain, the difficulties and struggles I faced in my life — let alone what so many other people are facing — it felt crucial and important for me to share that.”
Page first announced that he was trans in December of last year. “I can’t begin to express how remarkable it feels to finally love who I am enough to pursue my authentic self,” the Halifax-born actor wrote in a letter posted to social media. “I love that I am trans. And I love that I am queer. And the more I hold myself close and fully embrace who I am, the more I dream, the more my heart grows and the more I thrive.”