Elliot Page says he collapsed at an 'Inception' premiere after suffering a panic attack over gender pressures

• Elliot Page sat down with Oprah for his first TV interview since coming out as trans.
• He told Oprah about fainting on the press tour for "Inception" in 2010.
• Page said he suffered from panic attacks and fainting due to the pressures he felt to wear dresses.

In a new sit-down interview with Oprah Winfrey, Elliot Page discussed some of the pressures he felt as a working actor in Hollywood before coming out as trans.

This is Page's first TV interview since he announced that he is trans and uses he/they pronouns in an open letter on social media in December. During the interview, Page spoke about how he navigated the early parts of his career and he recalled one specific incident during the press tour for his 2010 film "Inception" where he suffered a panic attack and fainted due to the pressures he felt to present wearing feminine clothes.

"There was so much press and so many premieres all around the world and I was wearing dresses and heels to pretty much every single event," Page said of the "Inception" press tour. He continued to recall one evening on the tour in Paris where his manager surprised him by offering him a choice of three dresses to wear.

"I lost it, it was like a cinematic moment," he said. "That night, after the premiere at the after-party, I collapsed. That's something that's happened frequently in my life, usually corresponding with a panic attack.

"Ultimately, of course, it's every experience you've had since you were a toddler, people saying, 'The way you're sitting is not ladylike, you're walking like a boy. The music you're listening to as a teenager,' obviously, the way you dress. Every single aspect of who you are constantly being looked at and put in a box in a very binary system. That's what it leads to."

Later during the interview, Page spoke about his experience on the press tour for 2008's "Juno" and attending the Oscars where he was nominated for best actress for his role in the film.

"That was a pretty intense time. I remember it felt so impossible to communicate with people how unwell I was because obviously there is so much excitement. The film unexpectedly became a big hit, I became quite known, all these things and I felt I couldn't express just the degree of pain I was in," he said.

Adding: "So the Oscars, for example, I could not look at a photo from that red carpet. People might watch this and say, 'Oh my gosh, this person is crying about the night they went to the Oscars.' And I think again that prevents the ability to allow yourself to not just feel the pain but reflect on the pain, to even begin to sit down and bring it all up and finally confront all of that."

Earlier this week, Page told Vanity Fair that he was aware that he was a boy since he was a toddler.

"That is who I was, who I am, and who I knew myself to be. I just couldn't understand when I'd be told, 'No, you're not. No, you can't be that when you're older,'" Page told the publication. "Now I'm finally getting myself back to feeling like who I am," he continued "It's so beautiful and extraordinary, and there's a grief to it in a way."

Elliot Page's interview with Oprah Winfrey is streaming now on Apple TV+.