Ellen Page, who publicly came out as gay on Valentine’s Day of this year, sat down with Ellen DeGeneres on her talk show this week to discuss what it was like getting the big secret off her chest.

Ellen Page Talks Coming Out On 'Ellen'

Page, 27, was commended for her brave and eloquent speech at the Human Rights Campaign event for LGBT Youth earlier this year. And while her words likely had a positive effect on LGBT youth across the country and around the globe, Page admits that it was fundamentally life changing for her personally.

“You know you think you’re at a place where you’re like, ‘I’m so happy to be gay, I’m comfortable being gay, I love being gay,'" Page told DeGeneres, "and honestly it wasn’t until making that choice [to publicly come out] where I realized, no I was carrying a tremendous amount of shame and guilt for not being out. I felt isolated from the LGBT community and now I don’t.”

DeGeneres told the X-Men: Days of Future Past actress, “I am so proud of you for coming out, and I am so happy for you, " adding, "I know what a scary thing that is.”

Back in the 90s, at the height of her sitcom success, DeGeneres made the bold decision to come out. In the immediate aftermath, DeGeneres’ career took a nosedive, one in which she’s more than recovered from. Page, while talking to the host and comedian, expressed her gratitude for her bravery in coming out in a far more hostile era.

“[I'm] grateful to you, because you did it in a time when it was much harder and much scarier,” Page said. “I knew I would be a happier person. I knew I was going to feel better … It’s really been quite extraordinary to feel the shift.”

In a recent interview, Page admitted that the reaction to her coming out has been far more positive than she could have expected. “I expected so much more hate,” she told Flare magazine. “It was just remarkably positive, which is beautiful, because it’s indicative of the change that’s happening.”

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