Ellen Page on coming out: ‘I felt awkward around gay people’
By Josh Haggis
Ellen Page has opened up about her decision to come out earlier this year.
The Juno actress revealed she was gay at the Human Rights Campaign’s Time to Thrive conference in Las Vegas in February.
In a new interview with Canadian magazine Flare, the 26-year-old discussed the reaction she has received since then, saying: “I expected so much more hate. It was just remarkably positive, which is beautiful, because it’s indicative of the change that’s happening.”
Page also spoke about her feelings towards her sexuality before she made the decision to come out.
“You think you’re in a place where you’re all, ‘I’m thrilled to be gay, I have no issues about being gay anymore, I don’t feel shame about being gay,’ but you actually do. You’re just not fully aware of it. I think I still felt scared about people knowing. I felt awkward around gay people; I felt guilty for not being myself,” she said.
Page went on to insist that being open about her sexuality was the right decision for her as an actress, saying: “You hear things like, ‘People shouldn’t know about your life because you’re creating an illusion on-screen.’ But I don’t see other actresses going to great lengths to hide their heterosexuality. That’s an unfair double standard.”
Page won a BAFTA for her performance as a wise-cracking pregnant teenager in 2007′s Juno. She has since appeared in films including Whip It, Inception and To Rome With Love.
Watch Ellen Page’s moving coming out speech here
Ellen Page, Julianne Moore to star in gay rights film