Elliot Page to give Oprah Winfrey ‘wide-reaching’ interview: ‘How do you not use this platform to help trans kids?’
Elliot Page has recorded an interview with Oprah Winfrey for Apple TV+. (Apple)
Elliot Page is set to open up to Oprah Winfrey in a powerful Apple TV interview in a bid to help trans kids who look up to him.
Page, who came out as trans in December 2020, sat down with Oprah for the pre-recorded chat, which will debut on Apple TV+ on Friday (30 April).
In a preview clip released by Vanity Fair, Elliot Page opens up to the queen of the chat show about why he feels the need to use his platform as a trans person.
In the clip, Page tells Oprah that he took a moment to “become comfortable” in his own body before coming out to the world last December.
He also tells Oprah about the “horrible backlash” trans people are facing in the United States right now, with a raft of anti-trans bills making their way through state legislatures.
Speaking about his own coming out journey, Page tells Oprah: “It felt important and selfish for myself and my own wellbeing, and my mental health, and also with this platform I have, the privilege that I have, and knowing the pain and the difficulties and the struggles I faced in my life, let alone what so many other people are facing. It absolutely felt just crucial and important for me to share that.”
Elliot Page and Oprah Winfrey. (Apple)
Elliot Page was ‘really nervous’ about Oprah Winfrey interview
Speaking to Vanity Fair about the history-making interview, Page said he took a moment to think the idea through before agreeing to sit down with Oprah.
“It was something I needed to sit with for a moment, because the backlash right now is so intense. But the rhetoric coming from anti-trans activists and anti-LGBTQ activists – it’s devastating.
“These bills are going to be responsible for the death of children. It is that simple. So [talking to Oprah] felt like an opportunity to use a wide-reaching platform to speak from my heart about some of my experience and the resources I’ve been able to access – whether therapy or surgery – that have allowed me to be alive, to live my life.”
Page added: “I don’t want it to sound like, ‘Look at me.’ It’s not that at all. Actually, I was really nervous. But I thought about it for a bit, and it just felt like, Okay, the GOP basically wants to destroy the lives of trans kids and stop the Equality Act. How do you not use this platform?”
Elliot Page’s interview with Oprah Winfrey will be available to stream on Apple TV+ from Friday (30 April).
