Ellen Page Expresses Gratitude to Ellen DeGeneres for Coming Out "at a Time Where It Was Much Harder and Scarier"

Juno star discusses her decision to take that life-changing step during an interview for The Ellen DeGeneres Show

By Anita Bennett May 01, 2014 3:10 AMTags

Ellen Page struggled with the decision to tell the world she was gay.

But after taking the life-changing step on Valentine's Day, the X-Men: Days of Future Past actress says she felt a great sense of relief.

"I'm happy to be gay, I'm so comfortable being gay, I love being gay and honestly it wasn't until making that choice in doing that, where I realized like, no, I was carrying a tremendous amount of shame and guilt for not being out and I felt isolated from the LGBT community, and now I don't," Page revealed to Ellen DeGeneres in an interview scheduled to air May 27, a few days after X-Men hits theaters.

The 27-year-old came out during an emotional speech at Time to THRIVE, a conference to promote the welfare of LGBT youth on Feb. 14 in Las Vegas.

Page described the moment as "the most nervous I've ever been in my life, for sure. I think my biggest fear of doing it was even just having a panic attack quite frankly."

"But you know," she told Ellen, "I was so ready to do it and quite frankly so excited to do it, so it was a combination of just such thrill to finally be at that place in my life where I was able to do that. And [I was] grateful to have that moment and grateful to you because you did it at a time where it was much harder and much scarier so it's..."

 "It doesn't feel like it at the time but it's a very selfish thing to do," DeGeneres said. "It really is just the most, I mean I can speak forever on it, but how do you feel since you've done it?"

"I did not anticipate just how happy I would feel in just every aspect of my life just an ease and a comfort and it's really been quite extraordinary to feel just the shift it was pretty much overnight too. Just a weight," Page explained.

The actress, who received an Oscar nomination for her role in the 2007 film Juno, says she's also glad she can now speak openly about her life and relationships.

Jeff Bottari/AP Images for Human Rights Campaign

"It's so nice to just you know be at work and talk about an ex or you know get to wear what you want and not have a conversation about it and to feel like you're being yourself and then connect with people in the world," Page said. 

"You know, it's so nice to have people come up to me and tell me their story or you know say, 'Hey, I'm closeted, can you give me advice.' Those are really beautiful moments to get to share with people."

Earlier this month, Out magazine named Page the nation's 29th most powerful gay celebrity.

Among the other familiar names on the list were CNN anchor Don Lemon (27), basketball player Brittney Griner (31), and Apple CEO Tim Cook (2).

So who secured the top spot? That would be none other than Ellen DeGeneres.

PHOTOS: A look at celebs who have come out as gay