Taking to Instagram to announce the news – which came as a surprise to many of her fans, as the engagement had been kept under wraps – Ellen Page wrote: “Can’t believe I get to call this extraordinary woman my wife.”

The Juno star included an album of photographs, one of which featured her and Emma Portner’s hands (complete with wedding bands) touching against a white background.

Portner announced the news with a near identical post, adding: “@ellenpage I love you”.

Page came out as gay at a 2014 Human Rights Campaign event in a rousing speech that earned her a standing ovation.

“I’m here today because I’m gay, and because maybe I can make a difference,” she said.

“I feel a personal obligation and a social responsibility. I also do it selfishly, because I am tired of hiding and I am tired of lying by omission.”

In a speech which lasted for a little more than eight minutes, Page went on to reveal that she had decided to come out in hopes that her experience would help other people struggling with their sexuality.

“I suffered for years because I was afraid to be out. My spirit suffered, my mental health suffered and my relationships suffered. And I’m standing here today with all of you on the other side of that pain.”

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter shortly after her speech – which quickly racked up almost six million views on YouTube – the LGBTQ activist admitted that she felt as if a weight had lifted.

“I knew I would be happier,” she explained, “but I wouldn’t have anticipated just how f***ing happy I am and how every tiny little aspect of my life feels better.”

Page also added that she tends to “get more hate, honestly, about dressing androgynously than I do about being gay”.

She went on to reveal that she hoped to meet someone special in the future, admitting: “I’m so stoked to get married. I’m such a romantic, it’s awful. And I don’t think I’d want to make a kid, but I’d love to raise one. I’d love to raise a kid.”

Page and Portner – a teacher at the Broadway Dance Centre – became social media official over the summer of 2016, after they were spotted kissing outside a branch of Cafe Gratitude in Los Angeles.

Since then, Page has posted numerous interpretive dance videos with Portner and the duo have sometimes shared cover songs together. The two also walked the red carpet together at the September premiere of Flatliners in Los Angeles and at a gala for the Los Angeles Dance Project in October.

Due to the tight-lipped nature of their relationship, it remains uncertain whether they got married very recently, or in secret over the last six months. Either way, both page and Portner have been flooded with congratulatory messages from fans all over the world, with one writing: “This is so beautiful. I wish you both a long and happy life together.”

Images: Rex Features