In a new podcast episode with Jay Shetty, the Umbrella Academy star reveals that transitioning has massively improved his mindset
BY ELLA GAUCI, IMAGE BY DREAMSTIME
Elliot Page gave a candid and raw interview on Jay Shetty’s On Purpose podcast about how transitioning has affected his mindset. The Umbrella Academy actor came out as trans in 2020, and earlier this year released his memoir Pageboy.
The star revealed in the interview with Jay Shetty that before his transition he had previously struggled to perform daily tasks and often used relationships as a crutch so he wouldn’t be left alone with his thoughts.
“For significant periods of my life, I struggled to function on a pretty basic level, it was hard for me to literally sit down, it was hard for me to be productive, for me to be present at all,” Elliot shared. “I couldn’t see the future because I didn’t know how much longer I would last feeling that way.”
Since his transition, Elliot said that he gets gender euphoria from just being able to complete the daily tasks he wasn’t able to before like “drinking coffee in silence and just being able to sit and have [his] coffee”.
“Literally everything in my life is better now,” Elliot shared in a moment of pure queer joy. “There’s this ability to just exist every day on set and just be on my body.”
In the interview, Elliot also spoke about his previous relationships before his transition. Confirming his single status, Elliot said that he had been a “serial monogamist” in the past as a way to stop him from obsessing over the thoughts in his head.
“I’m very much enjoying connecting with people, maybe having some fun, but sort of just being on my own right now. And that is very new for me,” he said.
Earlier this year Elliot spoke openly about how happy he was to star shirtless in Dominic Savage’s film Close To You.
In his interview with Jay Shetty, Elliot did acknowledge his privilege when it came to his transition. “My position obviously comes with such an enormous amount of privilege like my life does not reflect the lives of most trans people who deal with a disproportionate amount of unemployment, poverty, incarceration, violence, etc. – particularly black trans people,” he shared.
“I’d be lying if I said there weren’t certain elements of this sort of unusual experience don’t have its challenges or difficult moments, and at the same time, what I always go back to is the degree in which my privilege and resources help and protect me.”
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