Elliot Page collapsed at an Inception after party from the unbearable pressure of living in the wrong gender
Elliot Page speaking with Oprah. (Apple)
Elliot Page collapsed at an Inception after party because of the unbearable pressure that came with living in the wrong gender.
The Umbrella Academy star opened up about the heartbreaking incident during an interview with Oprah Winfrey for the latest episode of The Oprah Conversation, which debuted on Apple TV+ on Friday (30 April).
Elliot Page told Oprah that wearing feminine clothing had become “detrimental” to his mental health by the time he embarked on a worldwide press tour for the 2010 film Inception.
“There was so much press, so many premieres all around the world and I was wearing dresses and heels to pretty much every single event,” Page said.
The actor said his manager “couldn’t be more supportive and incredible”, but there was “a lot of tension back then” because she thought she was helping his career by encouraging him to wear dresses and heels.
“We got back to the room and she was like, ‘I have a surprise.’ And I already had to wear the dress, had one picked out, and I went in and there were three dresses laid out, new dresses to maybe see, and I just – I lost it,” Page said.
“I got so… it was like a cinematic moment, like the kind of thing that would be in a movie,” the actor said.
“And that night after the premiere and at the after party, I collapsed, and that was something that’s happened frequently in my life, usually corresponding with a panic attack.”
He continued: “And yeah, I’m sure the two correlate and that whole period correlates. But ultimately, of course, it’s every experience you and since you were a toddler – saying, the way you’re sitting, that’s not ladylike; the way you’re walking, you’re walking like a boy; the music you’re listening to as a teenager, obviously, the way you dress, like, every single aspect of who we were, you know, constantly being looked at and put in a box, in a very binary system.
“And that all, you know, that’s what it leads to.”
The success of Juno meant that it was ‘impossible’ for Elliot Page to open up about his inner turmoil
Elsewhere in the interview, Elliot Page reflected on what it was like to be nominated for an Academy Award for his breakout role in Juno.
He described it as an “intense time” and said the attention meant that it was “impossible” for him to tell people “how unwell” he was.
“The film unexpectedly became a big hit. I became quite known, your financial situation, you know, all these things. And I felt like I almost couldn’t express just the degree of pain I was in.
“So, the Oscars for example, I could not look at a photo from that red carpet. And again, people might watch this and be like, ‘Oh my gosh, this person is crying over the night that they went to the Oscars.’ And I think that, again, prevents the ability to allow yourself to not just feel the pain, to reflect on the pain, to even begin to sit down and start to bring it all up, and finally, you know, confront all of that.”
