Ellen Page covers the new issue of The Hollywood Reporter. I just spent way too much time reading the story, which you can see here. It’s Ellen’s first intensive interview since coming out on Valentine’s Day, and overall… she seems SO MUCH happier. She even says that, that coming out has felt like a huge weight off her shoulders. It sort of reminds me of Jason Collins and Michael Sam – we’re at a point in popular culture that when public figures come out, they’re met with mostly love and beyond that, they just feel better about living an honest life. Anyway, the Page piece is very long, but I’ve culled some highlights:

Her years-long battle with depression: “I was sad, honestly. And obviously that’s a very personal thing to say, but I say it to encourage whatever other people are feeling. Very sad, isolated, a lot of anxiety. No more.”

She loves Jodie Foster’s coming out speech: “You have no idea how hard that moment is, even though they’re not fully saying what you want them to say.”

Hiding her sexuality for years: “For so long I just sort of thought, ‘You just can’t. I love being an actor, it’s a huge part of my life, so I’m going to keep that private.’ And, ‘Oh, I have to keep it private because my job is about creating an illusion’ and kind of all those bulls–t excuses. Because I don’t see heterosexual actresses going to great lengths to hide their heterosexuality.”

Being bullied as a tween/teen: “I started getting made fun of and getting called a dyke and stuff,” she recalls. It was around that time, at around 14 or 15, that she “really started solidly thinking” about the fact that she actually might be gay.

She tried dating guys: “Any of my first experiences with guys. I sort of was like, ‘What? This is what the whole world freaks out about? And every poem is about? I don’t get it at all.’ ”

Coming out to her family at 20: “The thought of having to come out to them never really crossed my mind. I was just like, ‘Oh, I’m in love with this woman.'” (It wasn’t until she turned 24 that she gave up completely on trying to have sex with men, having grown “comfortable” with the thought of calling herself a lesbian.)

By 2013, she no longer cared who knew: “I would talk about being gay, make jokes about it, or go to a meeting and [mention it] — you know, because I’m also producing and starring in a lesbian civil rights movie and I’ve been working on it for years.” By her own estimates, 80 percent of the industry was aware of her sexual identity when she made her speech.

She still gets hate for her style: “I get more hate, honestly, about dressing androgynously than about being gay. It blows my mind.”

She’s not up for romantic leads: “In a lot of the roles, especially now that I’m getting older, women are devices for the men in the story and very sexualized. That’s what it’s all about — being seen through this male, patriarchal gaze. Let’s just get real; that’s just what most scripts are.”

The controversy surrounding Bryan Singer: The allegations “super, super disturbing. … I guess the truth will come out in the way that it does, but it’s hard to hear about someone being in that situation, someone you like working with.” Having grown up on film sets, Page is all too aware of the kinds of abuses that can take place behind doors in Hollywood: “Whatever comes of it,” she says, “I do think that there’s a systemic issue of people in places of power manipulating and abusing young people.”

On the lookout for Ms. Right: “I’m so stoked to get married,” says Page, with a sigh. “I’m such a romantic, it’s awful. And I don’t think I’d want to make a kid, but I’d love to raise one. I’d love to raise a kid.”

How happy she is: “I knew I would be happier. But I wouldn’t have anticipated just how f—ing happy I am and how every tiny little aspect of my life feels better.”

[From The Hollywood Reporter]

I love her. Truly. I love that she’s really talking about coming out and how it affected her and she’s talking about the timeline and the burdens of keeping her secret. I think she’s an incredibly inspiring woman, and I think she’s giving young gay people a new path towards self-acceptance and being true to who they are. Oh, and she also says that she’s into Rachel Maddow, which is adorable.

Photos courtesy of THR.