Elliot Page Says He and Olivia Thirlby Had Sex 'All the Time' Making 'Juno': 'We Thought We Were Subtle'
The actor wrote in his memoir that Olivia Thirlby was the "first woman I had a suitably consensual sexual relationship with"
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Elliot Page and Olivia ThirlbyElliot Page is revealing a past sexual relationship he had with Juno costar Olivia Thirlby.
The actor, 36, wrote in his new memoir Pageboy that Thirlby, also 36, was the "first woman I had a suitably consensual sexual relationship with."
Page, who played Juno MacGuff in the 2007 Oscar-winning comedy, recalled of meeting Thirlby, who played Juno's best friend Leah: "We were the same age, but she seemed so much older, capable and centered. Sexually open, far removed from where I was at the time."
In the book, Page wrote that their "chemistry was palpable" and he was "embarrassingly shy" around Thirlby. After becoming fast friends with his costar, Page recalled that Thirlby said, "I'm really attracted to you," and Page said the same back. Then "we started sucking face. It was on."
"We started having sex all the time: her hotel room, in our trailers at work, once in a tiny, private room in a restaurant. What were we thinking? We thought we were subtle," he wrote. "Being intimate with Olivia helped my shame dissipate. I didn't see a glint of it in her eyes and I wanted that — done feeling wretched about who I am."
Page added that he kept the relationship "hidden" and he isn't sure whether his mom (who was staying with him at a hotel in Vancouver during the film shoot) "suspected anything" at the time.
Thirlby came out as bisexual in 2011, telling Brooklyn Magazine at the time, "No one should have to hide their sexual orientation. Loving people is a necessary part of being human, and it is very difficult to love people in secret. It’s a horrible thing to force people to do. And I am not 100% straight. … I’m so lucky to have a job where it’s okay for me not to be in the closet."
In 2014, the Oppenheimer actress married Jacques Pienaar, whom she met making the 2012 action movie Dredd.
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Thirlby explained in a 2021 conversation for Interview magazine that she was excited that her show Y: The Last Man explored different kinds of relationships that went beyond labels.
"The notion of being attracted to someone and not factoring in whether they’re cis or trans or intersex is still somewhat foreign to a lot of people, but for a lot of others its not foreign at all," she said. "That’s the way I am, and that’s the way Hero, my character, is. She doesn’t think being attracted to a trans person makes her anything in particular."
"I think that speaks to this deep need we all have to be able to step outside of binaries and labels," continued Thirlby. "Culturally, we’re so sexually repressed, and that refracts and magnifies into an obsession with people’s genitals. Where we’re heading, thank-f---ing-God, is toward an understanding that not just sexual expression but interpersonal attraction is about human beings."
Page publicly came out as gay in 2014 and as trans in December 2020. For PEOPLE's Pride cover story, Page explained how it felt to finally share his truth with the world.
"It definitely feels a way that I never thought I would get to feel, and that mostly manifests in how present I feel, the ease I feel and the ability to exist. There’s been periods in my life where I really felt like I didn’t," he said.
"So often it’s a lot more in the quiet moments. I think we talk about 'trans joy' and euphoria. So much of it is in the stillness. To have my shoulders back. I just was always kind of shut off, anxious. I used to never feel like my skin was my own."
Pageboy is now available wherever books are sold.
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