Ian McKellen says he is 'so happy' his 'X-Men' costar Elliot Page came out as transgender

• In an interview with Attitude Magazine, Sir Ian McKellen said he is "so happy" that his former "X-Men" costar Elliot Page came out as transgender.
• McKellen said that Page was quiet on the set of one of the "X-Men" movies, but became noticeably more talkative after Page came out as gay in 2014.
• McKellen said that he is "so disappointed" with himself that he didn't "detect" what Page's "difficulty was with communicating."

Sir Ian McKellen said he's "so happy" that his "X-Men" costar Elliot Page has come out as transgender.

Page came out as transgender last month, and McKellen told Attitude Magazine that he remembers Page being very quiet on the set of the "X-Men" movies before he came out as gay in 2014 and, later in December 2020, as transgender.

"I remember Elliot Page, in one of the 'X-Men,' sat as close as we are now. And I had to speak when they'd finished, and I couldn't hear what they were saying. Nobody could hear what they were saying," McKellen said."So, I said, 'Look, if you can't speak up, would you mind when you're finished speaking, just dropping your hand so I know when you've finished speaking?' And then they came out [as gay] years later and suddenly you couldn't stop them talking. You heard everything."

McKellen played Magneto in the "X-Men" movies while Page joined the cast as Kitty Pryde in "The Last Stand" and "Days of Future Past." McKellen also told Attitude that he is "so disappointed" in himself that he didn't "detect what their [Page's] difficulty was with communicating."

Nevertheless, McKellen sent a message of positivity to Page, telling Attitude that "everything gets better" when you come out because "you get self-confidence." McKellen said that not only do relationships with friends and family improve, but one's "acting" improves, too.

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McKellen said that one of the first pieces of acting he did after coming out in 1988 in response to Margaret Thatcher's Section 28 legislation (which prohibited the "promotion" of homosexuality) was the Anton Chekhov play "Uncle Vanya" at the National Theatre.

"I found in Act Three, when Vanya is at his peak of his misery, that I started crying," McKellen said. "I've never been able to cry, but I could now, because it was more me, the real me. And that was my contribution to the play and to the character."McKellen joins a host of celebrities to publicly support Page's coming out, including Anna Kendrick, Mia Farrow, and Patricia Arquette, following his announcement on Twitter.

Page wrote: "Hi friends, I want to share with you that I am trans, my pronouns are he/they and my name is Elliot."

—Elliot Page (@TheElliotPage) December 1, 2020

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