The other Ellen

Well, now I’m simply dying to know. Is she or isn’t she? The Ellen Page conundrum continues to confound. That conundrum being the puzzle of a tomboyish girl with no discernible hetero dating history and a penchant for boys underwear who pings our collective gaydars like crazy. More astute Oscar watchers than I noticed that Ellen sat next to a rather handsome, somewhat-older blonde woman.***

[Image via Girlfriend is a Homo]

Much discussion was had in the comments over at my AfterEllen Oscars post as to whether said handsome, somewhat-older blonde was indeed Ellen’s girlfriend. You see, she took the same woman as her guest to the Spirit Awards the previous day. That’s, like, two full dates. If she is indeed a lesbian the U-Haul has been loaded up and new pet kitten names have been picked out.

Of course, the mystery woman could very well just be a friend. Or an agent. Or a “roommate.” What I know for sure is that the woman can’t be her mother, as Village Voice columnist Michael Musto mused this week while giving the first wider voice to the “Ellen Page is gay”-whispers making the rounds. Michael’s theory is that if she took her mother, it only furthers the gay talk because “for guys, that used to signify 100% gay, but for girls, it might just mean young and/or Canadian--or, um, gay.” Regardless, according to WireImage, this is Ellen’s mother, Martha Philpott.

So, the mystery continues. From everything I’ve read about Ellen she is a very smart, very straightforward and very sensible (not to mention very deliciously sarcastic) young woman. So I’d really like to think that if she was indeed gay that it would be no big deal and she would just come out and say it. On the other hand, I also understand that she is just 21 with a career about to hit hyper drive, so she probably wants to keep what little parts of her life that are still private private. Perhaps, if she is gay, she’ll go the Jodie Foster route, never talking about it but living her life as normally as possible. All I know is what Ellen said herself about being a tomboy growing up:

“(My parents) tried ballet, but it became evident what kind of kid I was going to be.” A tomboy? “I guess…That’s a funny word. A girl that didn’t play with Barbies.”

Now, of course, not playing with Barbies doesn’t automatically make you gay. Nor does being sporty or mechanically inclined or awkward in dresses. Well, at least not automatically. So who knows. What I do know is the more I heard from Ellen Page, the more I like her. And I really like her when she talks about tequila. God, how cute is she?

What else I know for sure is that -- baby dyke or not -- on Saturday night Ellen is going to be my date as I sit in my jammies, clutch the remote and enjoy the hell out of her hosting SNL.

***UPDATE: Mystery solved. Ellen’s “date” was her publicist, Kelly Bush. Sorry, make that her out lesbian publicist Kelly Bush. OK, so I was close with the agent thing. The firm she runs, ID PR, also handles that other Ellen, Ellen DeGeneres (and she was embroiled in the whole Iggygate brouhaha). Her other clients include A-Listers like Natalie Portman, Tobey Maguire and the late Heath Ledger as well as a parade of my past Weekend Crushes like America Ferrera, Mary-Louise Parker and Diane Lane.

And here is an interesting quote from her in a recent W feature on Hollywood’s lesbian power players:

“Bush doesn’t believe that young lesbians need to define themselves by identity politics or limit themselves to a community of like minds. She never did. “I don’t think of myself in terms of straight or gay when I’m out in the world,” she says. “If people ask me, I’m honest, but I’m not political about it. I’m just a publicist. I’m not a gay publicist.”

OK, but how about a publicist of gays? Fine, since we all know that just sitting next to a gay person doesn’t make you gay, we’ll let this one go. For now. Anyhow, here is Kelly at an event last year.