Over the last few weeks Ellen Page has chosen to address her difficulty of coming out, and the condescension of referring to actors as “brave” for playing LGBTQ+ characters.

In a interview with Metro Weekly, she had the opportunity to elaborate on all of the above at length, and discuss her own privilege and highlighting the experiences of other marginalized people both in North America and elsewhere.

The main quote making the rounds is her response to Matt Damon’s clueless comments on coming out in Hollywood:

Heterosexual actors and actresses do not have to go to great lengths to hide their sexuality. Yes, of course, keep your private life private. Protect yourself. Have boundaries. When you’re a public person, you need to think about your safety. But if it’s in relation to sexuality, then no — that’s an unfair double standard. Heterosexual people walk down the red carpet with their partners all the time, they talk about their children …

Earlier in the interview, Page had cited taking her own longtime girlfriend to the red carpet as a moment of particular pride.

To experience being in love and get to live my life, hold my partner’s hand, bring her to the premiere of the film, go down the red carpet — it’s all these firsts in my life. I’m like, “This is the first time I’m in an out relationship in an airplane!” That might sound so insignificant to a lot of people, but probably not to a lot of people in the LGBT community because they would understand. I can’t tell you how special it is. It’s really extraordinary, and I feel really lucky.

She also admits that in her youth, she internalized the aspect of Hollywood culture that discourages actors from coming out. Matt Damon’s comments reflect a background undercurrent in this field, not a one-off opinion only held by him.

It’s just an idea that exists that you cannot be a gay actor, particularly a young, out gay actor. It’s this idea that, for some reason, I believed and listened to and participated in.

I felt guilty about not being a visible person for the LGBT community. And, quite frankly, personally, I feel like I should have felt guilty. I’m a very, very privileged person. Of course the right thing to do is to say I’m gay. For myself as a person and for the community, you know?

Page explained that she believed this sentiment comes from a “protective place” as opposed to a “negative” one — actors want to help their peers succeed within a bigoted system, and many may still believe that remaining closeted is the safest path to success. But it’s also a harmful path, and ultimately, Page says, it “makes our society homophobic, transphobic, biphobic.”

By coming out, Ellen Page has been automatically cast in a role for which she never auditioned: an “advocate” role. Recently, when she appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, he asked her if she ever felt like this new role was a “burden.” Page responded,

No, I feel so grateful for it. I feel so grateful to feel how I feel now, compared to how I felt when I was a closeted person … And, as a person, I’m a very privileged person. I’m a very privileged gay person. Those who are affected the most in our community are the most vulnerable.

Although Page seems to have taken to her new advocacy position like a fish to water, that isn’t the case for many other closeted people, including people within Hollywood.

Not everyone wants to play this role, and it seems to be a given that once a public figure comes out, they become a representative, even if they don’t feel qualified to do so. And yet, the reason that happens is because so few public figures tend to come out, so undue scrutiny gets placed on the few that do.

Perhaps Page’s discussion of these tough topics could chart a path for other more marginalized people to follow in the future — but for the moment, this still isn’t a path that’s available to most.

It’s still much easier for someone like Ellen Page to cross this ocean than it is for others, and that could still be a source of resentment for some, no matter how many times she acknowledges it.

In February 2014, Ellen Page stood on a stage at a Human Rights Campaign event in Las Vegas and told the large crowd that she is gay.

I’m here today because I am gay. And because maybe I can make a difference. To help others have an easier and more hopeful time. Regardless, for me, I feel a personal obligation and a social responsibility…

It’s weird because here I am, an actress, representing — at least in some sense — an industry that places crushing standards on all of us. Not just young people, but everyone. Standards of beauty. Of a good life. Of success. Standards that, I hate to admit, have affected me.

You have ideas planted in your head, thoughts you never had before, that tell you how you have to act, how you have to dress and who you have to be. I have been trying to push back, to be authentic, to follow my heart, but it can be hard.”

Since then, the actress has become an outspoken LGBTI activist, attending pride events, and even recently confronted Republican presidential hopeful Ted Cruz on his anti-gay views.

But for Page, who plays a lesbian in the new film Freeheld, it is still painful when she thinks of her former closeted self.

Talking to BuzzFeed News she said;

I’m embarrassed to say how closeted I was. I get sad thinking about it, honestly, because it was painful. And painful for people I was in relationships with. Just all-around destructive. Intolerance and closetedness is just a ripple effect of shit.’

Page, was still a teenager when she was thrust into the limelight with an Oscar-nominated performance in the 2007 film Juno.

After that, she made an effort to hide the women she was dating by, for example, leaving a hotel by a different entrance and ‘noooo public interaction.”

She remembers, with disgust, saying things like: ‘Go in the bathroom when room service comes’ or ‘This is my friend.’

She says now:

I feel bad about it. And I did start feeling really guilty about it. And I think that I should feel guilty about it.

Page came out shortly before filming of  Freeheld, a film close to her heart which she is also producing.

It tells the true story of police detective Laurel Hester (Julianne Moore) who finds out she has terminal lung cancer and seeks to leave her benefits to her partner Stacie Andree (Page).

The prospect of making the film helped Page come out publicly.

First of all, I didn’t want to be a closeted person anymore,’ she says. ‘But then also: “What, are you going to not be an out gay actor when you shoot a movie like that?” Of course not. And it is people like Stacie and Laurel that inspire you.”

She found making the film to be freeing.

It was a special experience for me personally: what it represented in my life. It was nice to play a gay person. I’m gay! It was nice to fall in love with a person onscreen who is the kind of person that you’d fall in love with.”