Matt Damon surprised fans by sharing long-kept personal details about his wife, Luciana Barroso, and his lifelong best friend, Ben Affleck, revealing that when they first met, Barroso initially found Affleck more attractive.
The candid confession took place during Damon’s appearance on The Howard Stern show on Monday, January 12 and quickly became a highlight of the interview.
“It’s completely true,” Damon, 55, said when Stern asked if Affleck, 53, was there the night he met his future wife.
Damon explained that the truth was revealed a few months into their relationship, after meeting Barroso’s best friend from high school.
The two women went to see Goodwill Hunt together years earlier, and their opinions on the film’s stars were very different.
Damon recalls: “After we had been together for a little while, probably a few months, she admitted that – I think I met her best friend from high school and it turned out they both went to see Goodwill Hunt together and her best friend thought I was the cutest and she thought Ben was the cutest.
Damon said he jokingly confronted his wife at the time, telling Stern, “So she confessed to me…I’m like, ‘Did you do it wrong?!’ She told me 23 years ago.
When Stern asked if hearing something like that persists over time, Damon and Affleck emphasized that their bond has only grown stronger, both personally and professionally.
Barroso, now 49, currently works closely with both men and is a producer on The tear and Affleck’s next directorial project Animals.
Affleck joked that he never felt any romantic tension, saying that Barroso was “a great producer and a very good friend”, adding that any existing attraction clearly disappeared once she met him in real life.
“Eventually she met him and all that went away,” Damon replied, drawing laughter from the studio.
The conversation turned playful when Stern suggested it would be “devastating” if Barroso left Damon for Affleck.
Damon agreed without hesitation, saying, “If my two favorite people just left my life? Yeah, that would suck.”
Damon and Affleck became famous with Goodwill Huntwhich won them Oscars, and Damon later met Barroso in Miami while filming Stuck on you.
The couple married in 2005 and share four daughters, Alexia, Isabella, Gia and Stella.
Affleck, who has witnessed their relationship over the years, praised their marriage, calling it “a truly beautiful marriage and friendship.”
Damon also revealed that he barely remembers who was with him the night he met Barroso because he was so attracted to her.
“I didn’t remember who I was with because all I remembered was her,” he said, a comment Affleck qualified by joking that Damon was “hammered” but smart enough to phrase it romantically.
More than two decades later, Damon’s story serves as a reminder of the deep friendship and humor that still defines his bond with his wife and best friend.
