you.Youbecomesocomplacent
in thisrealityyoucreate. It’s like
abucket, and it’s fillingupand
fillingupand fillingup—and
finally it justspillsover.AndI feltguilty fornotbeing
out for theLGBTcommunity. Iwas like, ‘Dude, just
sayyou’regay.’”
Thatmomentwasa long timecoming forPage,
andone that, fora long time, shedidn’t thinkwould
everhappen.Shewasoutwithher friendsand family,
but ifanyoneaskedaboutbeinganopenlygayperson,
she’drespondbysaying that thiswas“impossible,”
at least forher, exposed to theglareofpublicopinion
andceaselessmediaattention.Whatwouldsucha
thingdo tohercareer?
Today,Pagecanhardlybelievesheeverenter-
tainedsuch thoughts. “Ifsomeonewas like, ‘Hey,
you’renevergoing tobe inamovieeveragain,’”she
says, “Iwouldhavedone itanyway.”
W
HENPAGEFINALLYCAMEOUT,
it
was ina thoughtful,orchestratedway, in
abeautiful speechat theHumanRights
Foundation’sTime toThriveconference
lastFebruary.
“Iwantedtodo itandnotmake itseemabout
myself.AndIwantedtoalignparticularlywith
somethingLGBT-youth-oriented,”Pagesaysofher
speech. “Forme, itwasagreatopportunitytobehon-
est, tosharecertainelementsof thepainthatIwent
through.Hopefully, thatcanconnectwithsomeone
else.Thereality is, therearevery fewyoungpeople
outasactors, soIwashopingtospeaktoa lotof the is-
suesso itwouldn’t justseem like, ‘Hey, look, I’mgay.’”
AnotherwayPagehasbeenseekingaconnection
withtheLGBTcommunity—youth inparticular— is
intherecenttapingof
Gaycation
,anewtravelseriesfor
Vice, inwhichsheandherbestfriend,IanDaniel,also
gay, traveltheworldvisitingdifferentLGBTcommuni-
tiesandexploringtheLGBTcultureofeachcountry.
If there’sa theme thatemerges fromall this, in
termsofPage’spublicandprivate life, it’s the issueof
control,ofknowingwhen toholdonto itandwhen to
let itgo.And this, in turn,bringsusback tosurfing.
Whenyou’reriding thewaves,Pagesays, “You
haveasingular focusonsomething that, toacertain
degree, youcancontroland toacertaindegreeyou
absolutelycan’tandnevercan, and it’salwayschang-
ing.”She’sgetting to thepoint, sheadds,whereshe’s
starting toappreciate theuncertainty.
COURTNEYHAZLETT
is the senior vicepresident of
development forOutEast Entertainment. Someof her past
interviews for
AmericanWay
have includedJulianneMoore,
AlecBaldwin andDustinHoffman.
“If someonewas like,
‘Hey, you’renever going tobe ina
movieever again,’
IWOULDHAVEDONE
ITANYWAY
.”
FROM
LEFT
:
Page (right) and
girlfriendSamantha
Thomas attend the
HumanRights
Campaign’s 19th
annualNational
Dinner in
Washington,D.C.
PageplaysStacie
Andree in
Freeheld
.
68
DECEMBER2015
AMERICANWAY
PHOTOS
PAUL MOR IGI /GETTY IMAGES ; SUMMIT ENTERTAINMENT/PHOTOFEST
