Matt Damon’s wife, Luciana Barroso, didn’t think he was “the cute one” in “Good Will Hunting” before they met.
Barroso told her now-husband that she had once had a crush on his co-star — and best friend — Ben Affleck, “probably a few months” into their relationship, which began in 2003.
“I met her best friend from high school, and it came out that the two of them went and saw ‘Good Will Hunting’ together,” Damon, 55, recalled on the “Howard Stern Show” Monday of the 1997 film.
“Her best friend thought I was the cute one,” he confirmed. “And [Barroso] thought Ben was the cute one.”
After his partner’s confession, Damon told her, “You got the wrong one.”
When Howard Stern pointed out that Barroso worked with both Damon and Affleck on “The Rip,” the latter weighed in on his pal’s wife’s past feelings about him.
“She’s a great producer and a really good friend,” the “Gone Girl” star clarified. “And yeah, I never got that vibe from her.”
He joked, “I think something I did in real life rubbed it off. You know, in person, you’re different.”
Damon agreed, quipping, “Finally, she met him and all that went away.”
Damon and Barroso have been married since 2005 and share four children — Barroso’s daughter Alexia, 26, from a previous relationship, as well as Isabella, 19, Gia, 17, and Stella, 15.
Affleck, for his part, was married to Jennifer Garner from 2005 to 2018, and they welcomed Violet, 20, Seraphina, 17, and Samuel, 13.
He went on to wed Jennifer Lopez in 2022, but the duo called it quits two years later.
Amid Affleck’s tumultuous love life, he has maintained his close bond with Damon and Barroso.
In September 2024, he made headlines for kissing Damon’s wife’s head during a Los Angeles outing — on the heels of Damon holding hands with Lopez.
Affleck was photographed third-wheeling the couple’s dinner date the following summer.
Damon said on Monday that he was “there for all” of Affleck’s relationship ups and downs, which “mean[t] a lot” to Affleck.
The “Tender Bar” star gushed, “That’s sort of what a real friend is.”
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