Elliot Page Reveals Past Romance With Kate Mara

Elliot Page had a romantic relationship with Kate Mara, he revealed in his upcoming memoir Pageboy. The Umbrella Academy star said Mara was the “first person” he fell for after his heart was broken, and Mara’s boyfriend at the time, Max Minghella, was supportive. Mara and Page continue to be close, with Mara appearing at a book event with Page later this month.

“The first person I fell for after my heart was broken was Kate Mara,” Page wrote, reports PEOPLE.”She had a boyfriend at the time, the lovely and talented Max Minghella.” The relationship happened in 2014, a short time after Page came out as gay and was filming X-Men: Days of Future Past. “‘I never thought I could be in love with two people and now I know I can,’” Page recalled Mara telling him during their relationship.

“This was right after I’d come out as gay and it was a time of exploration and also heartbreak,” Page said of his relationship with Mara. “I think my relationship, or whatever you want to call it with Kate, very much encapsulates a certain dynamic that I consistently found myself in, which was falling for people that – I think a lot of us do this – who aren’t fully available. And the sort of safety in that and the highs and the lows and the serotonin bump, and then it goes away.”

Mara, 40, has “read the book,” Page, 36, told PEOPLE. The two are still close friends and worked together in the 2017 movie My Days of Mercy. Mara went on to marry her Fantastic Four co-star Jamie Bell, and they have two children together. “I think the love and care that we have for each other is its very own special thing,” Page added of his current relationship with Mara. “Separate from the intimacy that I write about.”

Elsewhere in Pageboy, Page claims he was verbally assaulted by an A-list actor at a party in 2014, just two months after coming out. The actor told Page, “You aren’t gay. That doesn’t exist. You are just afraid of men.” The man told him, “I’m going to f— you to make you realize you aren’t gay.” When the two saw each other at a gym a few days later, the actor insisted he did not “have a problem with gay people I swear.” “I think you might,” Page replied.

Page had similar experiences throughout his life, and noted that many other queer and trans people face the same situation. “These moments that we often like don’t talk about or we’re supposed to just brush off when actually it’s very awful,” Page told PEOPLE. “I put that story in the book because it’s about highlighting the reality, the s— we deal with and what gets sent to us constantly, particularly in environments that are predominantly cis and heterosexual. How we navigate that world where you either have more extreme, overt moments like that. Or you have the more, like, subtle jokes.”

“[In Hollywood] these are very powerful people. They’re the ones choosing what stories are being told and creating content for people to see all around the world,” Page continued. He said the person who verbally assaulted him will “hear about this and know it’s him.”

Page came out as transgender in 2020. His book Pageboy will be released on Tuesday. He plays Vanya Hargreeves/Viktor Hargreeves on Netflix’s The Umbrella Academy, which was renewed for a fourth and final season.