Ellen Page Is Apparently Dating This Dancer Emma Portner Now, Hmm, Ok

Since coming out as gloriously queer on Valentine’s Day 2014, Ellen Page has kept things prrrretty low-key. Although she’d occasionally be spotted canoodling with a lady in public, she’s been mostly content to work on her (Emmy-nominated!) travel show Gaycation, post Instagram photos of her dog and quietly date tall surfer lady Samantha Thomas. The couple first went public in 2015 and have been very chill about their romance, to the point where this reporter kind of forgot it was happening at all? Although neither Page nor Thomas seem to have ever announced the end of their relationship, they have not been photographed together since January (and Ellen posted a photo of Samantha en route to a protest in February).

Before you shed any tears for Ellen Page, take comfort in the fact that the 30-year-old actress currently appears to be currently enamored with 22-year-old dancer/choreographer Emma Portner, with whom she performed this somber cover of Britney Spears’ “Lucky.”

Although it would be easy to dismiss the pair’s creative partnership as a simple friendship, Page and Portner put all theories about the state of their gal-paldom when they were spotted kissing Thursday afternoon outside Cafe Gratitude.

photo credit: Osvaldo / BACKGRID

For the uninitiated, Cafe Gratitude is a totally bonkers vegan place in LA and San Francisco that forces its patrons to order its dishes using “I am” declarations, ie “I am liberated” = raw kelp pesto noodles or “I am brilliant” = coconut ceviche. This is probably the gayest place anyone could be spotted kissing, but here we are.

Looks like SOMEBODY’s bringing home a doggie bag full of I AM IRRESISTIBLE or whatever // photo credit: Osvaldo / BACKGRID

Emma and Ellen (Emlen?!) appear to be having a swell time, but tragically it appears that Page’s adorable dog Patters may have been surrendered in her breakup with Samantha Thomas. While Thomas posted a picture of Patters on June 28, he is noticeably absent from Page’s feed. Dog custody arrangements are the most heart-wrenching part of celesbian breakups, and it kills us every single time.

All the same, we wish these two crazy kids luck and look forwards to seeing where this adorable relationship leads us.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BWI-M_Uj6-V

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Stef

Stef Schwartz is a founding member and the self-appointed Vapid Fluff Editor at Autostraddle.com. She currently resides in New York City, where she spends her days writing songs nobody will ever hear and her nights telling much more successful musicians what to do. Follow her on twitter and/or instagram.

Stef has written 464 articles for us.

40 Comments

  1. I just wanted to say that that video is the gayest thing ever, but then you mentioned that thing about making out in front of a self affirming vegan place and well…so glad Ellen Page came out and stopped uncomfortably wearing dresses to things.

    • I will confess I have actually been there (the LA one). The awkwardness on ordering is forever seared into my brain.

      I have never eaten meat (mother and grandmother both vegetarian), but it’s the kind of place that made me want to walk in chomping on the biggest meatiest burger in existence.

      • a friend took me there once when we had just met, but i think she had meant to take me to doomie’s which is a diner sorta spot where you can get like, vegan jalapeno poppers. instead we found ourselves inside an episode of portlandia. cafe gratitude is nice and all but the experience of eating there makes me want to jump in a lake.

      • I’ve been to the one in SF when we were visiting and my partner was on a raw food diet. The food was meh. I had no idea that anyone else would have even heard of it.

    • nah somebody once broke up with me to move to SF and work at Cafe Gratitude.

      Which I felt a little sad about at the time, but she was also the kind of person who would invite me to take mushrooms with her and then tell me long stories about how we were lovers in a previous life, which was simultaneously romantic and way too much.

      Also my therapist and I once had a conversation in which she was like UGH FUCKING CAFE GRATITUDE and it was very entertaining.

          • In fairness, I’ve been to Gracias Madre and it’s delicious! And no weird hippie names on the menu

          • I was super bothered when they closed ALL of their Bay Area locations, and then basically blamed it on employees who were suing them for mistreatment/ illegally asking them to pool their tips (or something akin to this?)… the husband and wife founders were like “we can’t afford to go to court.. So we’re closing 5 of our locations.” I mean, agh of course I don’t know their personal finances but it seemed super fishy!

          • Also me: I loved Cafe Gratitude food, I’ve heard amazing things about the food at Gracias Madre and want to eat there and (regrettably) I own both a Cafe Gratitude themed book and their “Abundant River” board game (?) that I found at the thrift store for $2. Lolll

    • There once was a couple named Emlen
      With two smirks like the world’s cutest gremlin
      And their little gay ditty
      Was so wonderfully pretty
      It was heard all the way to the Kremlin

  6. if I know a girl who knows a guy who knows this Emma that means I’m basically dating Ellen too right???

  7. Samantha’s Instagram profile picture has her and Patters in it, so I think that means she got puppy custody. Also occasionally Samantha and Ellen still <3 each other's pictures, so I'm hoping that means they're on good terms.

    (Ugh I obviously spend too much time analyzing Instagram queer relationship semiotics)

  8. “Bonkers” is an extremely generous (and accurate) way of describing Cafe Gratitude.

  10. OK but I am also a dancer named Emma. And when I was doing my degree in dance, the only other openly queer woman in my program for a while was named Emma, which has lead us to believe that queerness is a prerequisite for being a dancer named Emma. Also, that we

    • (I got cut off!) Also, that we should form a dance/performance art collective specifically for queer Emmas (Quemmas).

      P.S. My friend Emma has met even more queer Emma dancers.

    • My friend/mentor Emma has a performance art alter ego named LadyPrince (v v v v queer), so I feel like the Quemmas idea isnt too much of a stretch.

  12. “This is probably the gayest place anyone could be spotted kissing, but here we are.”

    This made me laugh out loud, and also think about how this is the gayest place anyone could possibly be reading about this, and HERE WE ARE I’M SO GLAD

  13. This is the hard-hitting reporting I come here for. Love you Stef and the work you do. <3

  15. Cafe Gratitude also has a location in Kansas City, MO — a facet vital to my efforts in making Kansas City the next big gay city.

  17. I though that video was the most excruciatingly earnest thing I’d encounter today, but nope, Café Gratitude takes the gluten-free paleo raw coconut cake.

  19. This is the worst “DANCING” i have ever seen… Wow.. Anyone can ball up anf flail around wow…smh

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