In a personal essay, Elliot Page discusses his 'greatest joy' in transitioning

Key Takeaways:

• A transgender man, Elliot Page, wrote an essay for Esquire about his experiences.

Elliot Page, a transgender man, wrote an essay for Esquire on his experiences.

"I can't overstate the biggest thrill, which is genuinely seeing oneself," the star of "The Umbrella Academy," wrote.

"I know I don't look like myself to others," he wrote, "but I'm just beginning to look like myself." "Because I'm just like, there I am, it's unexplainable. And thank God for that."

The Oscar-nominated actor, who publicly revealed his transgender identity in December 2020, hasn't always had it easy.

He was teased as a kid, according to his essay.

"Bullying puts you in a position where you have many unlearning to do afterward," he wrote. "If you're taunted, mocked, and called names regularly, there's no way it doesn't get inside of you—especially when you're already feeling so ashamed."

"I didn't expect the reaction to be so big," he remarked of his change.

"It was what I expected in terms of the genuine quality of the response: love and support from many individuals and hatred, cruelty, and vitriol from so many others," he wrote. "It's different now that I came out as gay in 2014. Transphobia is at an all-time high. The hatred and brutality are far more pervasive."

Page, on the other hand, is quite content with himself.

He wrote, "The greatest satisfaction is simply being able to feel present, literally just to be present." "To go out with a group of new individuals as well as be able to engage in a way that didn't make me want to flee from my body, this never-ending feeling of worry and uneasiness and wanting to get away."