Ellen Page (Photograph by Paul Smith/Shutterstock.com)
If you have ever watched “Juno” or “The Umbrella Academy”, you might be familiar with the name Ellen Page, who was the actress that starred in both. Apparently she was a talented actress though I never saw either nor any other movie that she was in.
That name has been in the news a lot more recently – but not for acting abilities.
The reason: She is no longer alive.
Figuratively.
To paraphrase Freddy Mercury who expressed his personal agony and pain though cryptic, heartfelt and genius lyrics in his masterpiece “Bohemian Rhapsody”:
Mama, just killed a woman
Put a gun against her head, pulled my trigger, now she’s dead
Ellen Page is gone.
Replaced by Elliot Page.
It was time. Ellen had to finally become Elliot.
Goodbye, everybody, I’ve got to go
Gotta leave you all behind and face the truth
Several months ago on our sister site www.arizonabreast.com, I reported the coming out announcement in the article “Actress Ellen Page Announces That He is Now Actor Elliot Page”. Though a celebrity, his story is just like the experiences shared with me by so many of my transgender patients.
Except for the money part, unfortunately.
In the Time magazine article of March 16, 2021 entitled “Elliot Page Is Ready for This Moment”, Elliot Page stated that at least since age 9 he wanted to be a boy and felt comfortable and natural looking like one. Acting roles that were less feminine or where appearance was more androgynous were far more satisfying. Female roles requiring relatively feminine outfits felt foreign, unnatural and more than unpleasant. In fact, he stated that even “just putting on a T-shirt cut for a woman would make him (sic) so unwell.”
Elliot Page
(Photograph by Wynne Neilly for TIME)
Puberty was “total hell” for him. This combined with the female roles that he played led to depression, anxiety and panic attacks.
Page came out as a lesbian in 2014 and tired living this way for several years. She (sic – he) ultimately married a women in 2018. “The difference in how I felt before coming out as gay to after was massive,” says Page. “But did the discomfort in my body ever go away? No, no, no, no.”
Ultimately, he realized that he was not a lesbian.
He was transgender.
A trans-man.
That revelation was announced on his Instagram site in December 2020. At that time, he was just recuperating from the gender affirming top surgery.
Page had been experiencing significant gender dysphoria for many years. In this Time expose, he shared that his top surgery was “not only life-changing but lifesaving”. He also stated that “the surgery made it possible to finally recognize himself when he looks in the mirror, providing catharsis he’s been waiting for since the “total hell” of puberty”.
The surgery for him completely transformed his life. For the first time ever he now felt comfortable with and in his own body.
So many of my top surgery patients have stories incredibly similar to Elliot Page’s.
Minus the millions of dollars!
