Emma Portner cries every time her wife Ellen Page goes to work
Emma Portner and Ellen Page have been married for a year.(emmaportner/instagram)
Emma Portner has revealed that she tears up every time she and her wife Ellen Page leave each other to go to their jobs.
Portner, who celebrated the first anniversary of her wedding to the 31-year-old X-Men actress over the new year, opened up about the celebrity marriage, telling Them about their “indefatigable connection and this undying desire to be near each other.”
“Ellen is the best, and I still cry every time we part ways for work.”
— Emma Portner
“It cannot ever be perfect, but we really respect each other. Love can’t flow without respect.
“Ellen is the best, and I still cry every time we part ways for work. I probably will forever, and I’m okay with that,” added the Canadian dance instructor, who has choreographed dances for Justin Bieber.
She said that Page, who came out in 2014 with a powerful speech to GLAAD, had changed the way she dances.
Portner, a teacher of contemporary jazz at New York’s Broadway Dance Centre, explained: “My movement now includes more tenderness. Ellen helps me to think a lot more about the intention behind specific movements.
“I’m much softer now and able to express intimacy more genuinely in my art.”
Emma Portner talks about coming out
The 24 year old also revealed that she didn’t struggle with coming out—but has been faced with everyday challenges as a result of her sexuality.
She said: “I have always—very luckily—been out. I remember texting someone that I was gay at 18 and it definitely came as no surprise to them.”
But, Portner added, that didn’t mean that it had been smooth sailing for her.
“Coming out is an ongoing process. You almost have to come out every day of your life.
Emma Portner and Ellen Page have both spoken up for worthy causes (Earl Gibson III/Getty)
“I was at the gym the other day and a trainer was like: ‘Where did you and your husband get married?’ and I was like: ‘Oh, I’m actually married to a woman.'”
“My face got red,” she recalled. “I was proud to say that I was married to a woman, but I still really struggle to correct straight-minded strangers.”
Discrimination is rife in the US, says Emma Portner
Portner said that it was “a scary time to be marginalised in America,” but said other minorities faced more severe forms of discrimination.
“What I deal with is nothing compared to what many other marginalised groups of people experience daily, especially indigenous women and women of colour,” Portner insisted.
This inequality stretches to dance stages, she said, explaining: “There are a lot of stories on stage that just don’t need to be told anymore.
“The dance world still needs more diversity. The aspects of me that people wanted to erase when I was younger are now my assets, and the more that I can embrace this, the deeper my work feels.”
