Damon also reflected on his wife’s bond with his longtime best friend, Ben Affleck.

Matt Damon calls decades-long marriage ‘the greatest thing in my life’: ‘It’s built on a very sturdy foundation’

Damon also reflected on his wife’s bond with his longtime best friend, Ben Affleck.

By Shania Russell

Shania Russell

Shania Russell is a news writer at *, *with five years of experience. Her work has previously appeared in SlashFilm and Paste Magazine.

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July 18, 2026 1:23 p.m. ET

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Luciana Barroso and Matt Damon attend the World Premiere of “The Odyssey” on July 6. Credit:

Grant Buchanan/Dave Benett/WireImage

- Matt Damon is reflecting on his 21-year marriage to Luciana Barroso.

- The *Odyssey* star described the relationship as “the greatest” thing in his life, noting that it provides a “sturdy foundation” for his career.

- Damon also opened up about his wife’s bond with his longtime best friend, Ben Affleck.

Matt Damon gets by with a lot of help from his wife — and he wouldn’t have it any other way.

Much like the legendary Greek hero he plays in *The Odyssey*, Damon has a lot of love for the woman he married and considers their relationship the foundation on which every part of his life relies.

“There’s a lot of love and respect underneath the relationship, and a lot of trust,” Damon recently told PEOPLE of his marriage to Luciana Barroso, with whom he tied the knot in 2005. “It’s built on a very sturdy foundation. We continue to grow and evolve as people, and so that foundation’s really everything.”

He added of their partnership, “It’s the greatest thing in my life.”

Matt Damon and Luciana Barroso in 2006.

George Pimentel/WireImage

Damon’s relationship with Barroso began in 2002, when they crossed paths in Miami while he was filming *Stuck on You*. Just a couple of years later, they tied the knot and have since welcomed three daughters: Isabella, 20, Gia, 17, and Stella, 15. Damon is also stepfather to Barroso’s 27-year-old daughter, Alexia, from a previous relationship.

In the years since their romance blossomed, Matt and Luciana have blended the personal and professional: she serves as a partner at Matt and Ben Affleck’s production company Artists Equity and has produced several of their recent films, including Damon’s* The Instigators*, Affleck’s upcoming film *Animals*, and Netflix’s *The Rip*, which starred both of the longtime friends.

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“She’s been a part of that for me since I’ve known her,” Damon told the outlet. “She reads everything I’m doing. She looks at cuts of movies. I’ve really relied on her notes for 23 years.”

As for her partnership with Affleck (another one of the great loves of Damon’s life), Damon shared that it’s heartening to know that two of his loved ones share a special bond as well.

Matt Damon and Luciana Barroso with their four daughters.

Jeff Spicer/Getty

“While I was doing *The Odyssey*, she was producing the movie that Ben was directing [*Animals*],” Damon explained. “And so they have their own work life and creative, professional relationship. We have one all together at the company, but they went off and did this movie while I was away and that’s great to see.”

Hilariously, Damon learned a few years into his relationship with Barroso that she originally had a crush on Affleck before meeting them.

“I met her best friend from high school and it came out that the two of them went and saw *Good Will Hunting *together and her best friend thought I was the cute one and [Luciana] thought Ben was the cute one,” Damon told Howard Stern in January. “So she admitted to me. I’m like, ‘You got the wrong one?!’ She told me that 23 years ago.”

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Meanwhile, Damon has long said that he had a feeling that Barroso was the one from the moment he laid eyes on her from across a crowded room. Though Barroso told *Vogue Australia* in 2018 that she remembers it a little differently.

“Matt’s story is that he saw me across the room, and there was a light on me,” she said. “And I’m like, ‘Yeah, it was a nightclub—there were lights everywhere!’”

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