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Jay Shetty PodcastElliot Page Gets Candid About His Transition Journey ”I was struggling to live life”
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WHAT IT’S REALLY ABOUT
Elliot Page on transition, memoir-making, and finding embodied freedom
- Elliot Page explains why he wrote his memoir in a nonlinear style, describing it as a reflection of how trans and queer self-understanding can move forward, pull back, and return to truth across time.
- He describes living pre-transition with intense discomfort and difficulty functioning, and contrasts that with feeling a new lightness, presence, and creative headspace after transitioning.
- He says acting is now dramatically better because he feels embodied and grounded on set, rather than experiencing overwhelming distress when alone in trailers or during production.
- He discusses the role of community and trans literature in reducing shame and isolation, and shares that readers have told him the book helped them speak with parents or pursue affirming steps.
- He addresses misinformation about trans healthcare and talks about what he believes parents and society should do: listen, create space for exploration, and educate themselves from credible sources and lived experience.
IDEAS WORTH REMEMBERING
5 ideasTransitioning shifted life from survival mode to feeling present and embodied.
He describes past daily life as involving profound discomfort, difficulty functioning, and a constant urge to flee—feelings that made it hard to imagine lasting into the future.
His relationship with acting improved because he no longer feels intense physical distress on set.
He says he can now start from a grounded, embodied place instead of “fighting through something” just to get to the starting point, and he notices a new “looseness” in his work.
The memoir’s nonlinear structure is meant to mirror a trans and queer journey toward truth.
He links the nonlinear format to the way queer/trans self-understanding can move closer to truth, then pull back due to fear, overwhelm, and social expectations; he also likes themes colliding across time.
Connection with trans community and trans writing helped reduce loneliness and shame.
He says community helped him survive and that connecting with others who share similar early feelings reduces shame and isolation; he also points to books and friendships as major sources of support.
He frames supportive parenting as listening, creating space to explore, and self-education.
He emphasizes listening without dismissal, shame, or embarrassment, and giving space to explore; he also highlights educating oneself due to widespread misinformation.
WORDS WORTH SAVING
5 quotesIt's like getting to feel a way that I never thought was possible.
— Elliot Page
I just do feel like for very significant periods of my life I struggled to f- function on a pretty basic level.
— Elliot Page
The future, I think I couldn't see it 'cause I didn't know how much longer I'd last- feeling that way in my day-to-day life.
— Elliot Page
If someone had told me, "Oh, you're gonna come out as trans, and you'll never work as an actor again," I would've been like, "Pff, cool." Like, all right, I'd way rather live my life- and be myself and engage with the world as myself and feel embodied and not feel like I don't know how to get through the day.
— Elliot Page
Like, always wanting to just... The sense of always wanting to flee. And now sometimes, of course, there's moments where I'm like, "I'd really love to just be home reading a book right now."
— Elliot Page
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SPEAKERS
Elliot Page
guestActor and author of the memoir "Pageboy," speaking about his transition and personal journey.
Jay Shetty
hostPodcast host of "On Purpose" and interviewer guiding the conversation.
High quality AI-generated summary created from speaker-labeled transcript.
