Ellen Page: “I Felt Awkward Around Gay People” Before Coming Out

According to Ellen Page, she didn’t feel comfortable with herself before revealing to the public that she is gay.

Speaking with Flare magazine, the X-Men: Days of Future Past explained she spent the last eight years coming out to herself despite telling her parents that she liked girls when she was 19.

“I was very nervous. I was very nervous, yes. Yes. Very, very nervous. Yes. I was emotional, deeply, deeply emotional,” Page said of her coming out speech. “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,” she continued. “I felt awkward around gay people; I felt guilty for not being myself.”

For the Canadian actress, she came out because she didn’t want to hide her true feelings anymore. Though she’s single now, Page said she previously had difficulties dating females because she was afraid of judgement.

Page said, “The more time went by, the more something just happened, and, Oh my god — I want to love someone freely and walk down the street and hold my girlfriend’s hand.”

“[I'll] always be happy to talk about being gay,” she added. “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.”