Elliot Page Opens Up About How Promoting ‘Juno’ Forced Him To Suppress His True Identity

Page’s heartbreaking struggle while promoting the film that flung him into stardom.

Jesse

• Published in News
• September 24, 2024

It’s no small feat to bare your soul to the world, and it’s even more daunting when that world has seen you through a distorted lens. As an Academy Award nominee and the most famous transgender man in Hollywood, Elliott Page knows this all too well.

Back in 2007, Elliot Page burst onto the Hollywood scene as a quirky, pregnant teenager in Juno. It was a role that had the world captivated, earning him an Oscar nomination and cementing his status as an indie darling overnight. 

The film was a hit, and it seemed like everything was perfect. But behind the scenes, things were far from the coming-of-age rom-com everyone saw on screen. 

Now, years later, Page is sharing his journey of navigating fame while grappling with his identity in his memoir Pageboy.

For many, Juno was a story of youthful resilience and quirky charm. For Page, it was a turning point in his career, but also the beginning of an internal battle that would take years to resolve. 

“Making Juno was a really special experience. It was definitely one of the best filmmaking experiences I’ve ever had,” Page recalls. 

But as the film gained traction, the joy of making it soon turned into a nightmare. The pressure to conform to Hollywood’s expectations became suffocating. “Cut to the film coming out, and then that whole aspect of myself [was] just being told to shove it away,” Page says. 

The industry’s demand for Page to fit into the narrow box of how a female star should look and behave was relentless. Suddenly, he was being told to wear dresses and heels and to hide his girlfriend from the public eye. 

The contrast between the freedom he felt on set and the constraints he faced during promotion was stark and painful. This was only the beginning of a journey that saw Page come out as gay in 2014 and eventually as transgender in 2020. 

His memoir, Pageboy, is a deeply personal account of this journey, detailing the struggles of living authentically in an industry that thrives on curated images and personas. “Writing this, it really was about untangling and unraveling so much of what held me back…where I wasn’t able to be my authentic self,” he shares. 

Tune into the songs that shaped Elliot Page’s journey with this memoir-inspired playlist

The book dives into the damaging effects of suppressing his true identity and the severe consequences it had on his mental health. However, it’s not all doom and gloom, though. Page also reflects on the empowering experience of coming out and how it’s transformed his life and career. 

He speaks fondly of working on The Umbrella Academy, where his character, Viktor, transitioned on-screen in a storyline that felt natural and respectful. “We worked together to make that story work in a way that felt natural and organic,” Page notes, highlighting the supportive environment created by the show’s creator, Steve Blackman.

It’s a beautiful moment in the memoir that highlights how far Page has come—both on-screen and off.

As Pageboy makes clear, the journey hasn’t been easy, but for Elliot Page, embracing authenticity has been nothing short of liberating. Page’s story reminds us all that embracing our true selves, no matter how daunting it may seem, is worth every struggle. 

It’s a must-read for anyone who’s ever felt out of place and a reminder that everyone deserves to live as their most authentic self.

Jesse