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Actress Ellen Page is known as an outspoken advocate for and a member of the LGBTQ community. But earlier in her career, she says she felt pressure from the entertainment industry to keep her sexuality to herself.
In an interview with Net-A-Porter, Page recalled being told that people "cannot know you're gay" as her career began to take off, as well as being pressured to always wear dresses and heels for events and photo shoots."
But rumors about her sexuality swirled, and as she was navigating her own relationships, headlines began to appear that Page called "very detrimental to my mental health."
"I was 20, I had just fallen in love for the first time with a woman, and I was still navigating my own stuff, while people were writing articles headlined: 'Ellen Page's sexuality sweepstake,' " she said.
Six years later, she came out during a speech to LGBTQ youth counselors. She announced her marriage to 24-year-old dancer Emma Portner last January.
"I remember being in my early 20s and really believing it was impossible for me to come out," she said. "But, over time, with more representation, hearts and minds have been changed. It doesn't happen quickly enough and it hasn't happened enough, particularly for the most marginalized in the community. But things have got better."
She continued: "I felt – and I feel – a sense of responsibility.. I want to be able to help in any way I can and I want to make queer content."
One of Page's latest projects is Netflix's "Tales of the City" series, which boasts a large amount of LGBTQ people involved both in front of and behind the camera.
"I'm so grateful to be a part of something that offers a lot of representation," she said. "It was the most inclusive set, in every aspect of the production, that I've ever been on. It is just different and you do feel it. It's something I want to do better and better at with anything I produce too."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Ellen Page says fame forced her to stay in the closet: 'People cannot know you're gay'
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