Matt Damon has a charged history with Oscar nights. In a new interview, he's opened up about his experience with the award show, including his first time, when he won an Oscar with Ben Affleck for the film "Good Will Hunting," and the years he didn't attend because he was busy shooting other projects. In 2024, the year of "Oppenheimer," Damon and his wife Luciana Barroso attended the show a week after she'd had brain surgery. It's an effort Damon calls "heroic."
© AFP via Getty ImagesIn an interview with GQ, Damon shared that he skipped the 2006 Oscars because he was shooting scenes for "The Bourne Ultimatum." That year he starred in Martin Scorsese's "The Departed," with the film winning several major awards.
"And I turned to Lucy and I was like, 'Sh*t, we should be there!' And then the next few weeks, I got all these calls from all the cast and the studio, like, 'Hey, where were you, man?' I totally blew it," Damon said.
"And then the next time that that happened was on Oppenheimer, and we had this whole scary thing happen where my wife had a brain aneurysm."
© Getty ImagesDamon revealed that Barroso is "totally fine," but that she'd had brain surgery the week before the Oscars. "But it was the first night she felt good enough to get up and had her energy back. And she surprised me and got a dress and we went out to the after-party, because she remembered that the last time it happened, I didn’t do it," he shared.
"And it was pretty f*cking heroic of her to do that and really meaningful."
Damon gears up for another Oscar season with his family's support
© Getty ImagesOver the past year, Damon has been one of the fixtures in the ever-shifting Oscars conversation. The actor starred in "The Odyssey," one of the biggest films of the year, and is expected to be nominated for Best Actor this year. Through all of the hard work, he's had his family's support.
In an interview with PEOPLE, he reveled he and his family's non-negotiable for ensuring that they remain in touch in the midst of busy lives. “We have family dinner every night, and that’s non-negotiable, and it’s always been that way,” he said.
© AFP via Getty Images
