ET is taking a look at the star couple's low-key romance and happy marriage.
Longevity is rare for marriages and romance in Hollywood, so when people manage to find love and hold on to it, it feels as special as the love stories seen in Hollywood films. Which is one reason why Matt Damon's 20-year relationship with Luciana Barroso feels so particularly magical.
From their too-adorable-to-believe meet cute in a bar in Florida in 2003 to their heartwarming love story that they've managed to keep largely out of the media spotlight, Matt and Luciana have cultivated a romance that has stood the test of time and the challenges of being a celebrity under scrutiny.
In celebration of their storybook romance -- including a distinctly humble, low-key wedding, four adorable daughters and stunning red carpet date nights -- ET is looking back at their relationship, from where it started to where they are now, two decades later.
2003 -- Love at First Sight
Matt and Luciana's paths first crossed when the actor was filming the comedy Stuck On You in Miami, Florida, in 2003. Matt was at a bar in South Beach after shooting ended for the day, and he noticed Luciana, who was a bartender.
Luciana recounted the night in an interview with Vogue in 2018, and explained how Matt hid behind the bar after getting a bit too much attention from locals and gawkers.
"He says, 'Oh I saw you and I really wanted to talk to you,' So I put him to work with me! I said, 'You know, if you’re going to be back here, you can’t just be standing there!'" she explained. "He had trained as a bartender for a film years before, so he started making drinks... It turned into a really fun night."
“We definitely had a connection right away, it was so easy to talk to each other, we were very comfortable... and by the end of the night, he invited me to go out with his friends," she remembered. "But I was like, 'I can't, I have a four-year-old daughter, I'm not going anywhere.'"
"That was one of the things he loved, that I had a daughter," she added. "Some guys might have been different, they might think it's complicated, but for him it wasn't. When you meet somebody that you have a connection with, that’s just the person that you have a connection with."
December 2005 -- Wedding Bells Chime
Two years after getting together, Matt and Luciana tied the knot in the most low-key way possible -- with a small civil ceremony at City Hall in Manhattan. The intimate ceremony included almost no guests, except for Luciana's then-7-year-old daughter and then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Even Matt's lifelong bestie, Ben Affleck, wasn't in attendance. One day after the nuptials, Matt had to return to set in New York as he was currently in production on The Good Shepherd.
June 2006 -- First Baby Together
Six months after the couple exchanged vows, they welcomed their first child together -- daughter Isabella. Matt's brother, Kyle, told People at the time, "He’s a terrific uncle and he's going to be a wonderful father... Thankfully, Lucy has some experience, so that will help. Alexia is a terrific girl. They’re all really close, they'll be an intimate family."
August 2008 -- Daughter No. 2!
The couple welcomed their second daughter together, Gia, in August 2008. Matt's publicist, Jennifer Allen, told Reuters in a statement, "She is a healthy, beautiful baby girl," and added that Luciana and the family were "doing great" after Gia's arrival.
October 2010 -- Stella!
The proud parents welcomed their third daughter together in October 2010, making them a sizable family of six. Matt told Hello! Canada shortly after welcoming Stella, "It’s been pretty crazy. The baby came a couple of weeks early. It’s our fourth, so we’ve done it before -- but it’s a whole new dynamic."
"In terms of juggling responsibilities, you're going, 'I’ll do that. No problem, I’ll do that,'" Matt explained. "After a week you go, 'Wait a minute! We have to figure out a plan here.' The girls, [they] all require different things."
Matt also admitted that his path to fatherhood may have been different than other people's -- especially other celebs -- but explained, "I can’t imagine my life having not gone down that road. I can't imagine what my life would be now. I don’t want to imagine it."
December 2011 -- Looking Back
Just over a year after welcoming Stella, Matt reflected on being an "extra dad" when he first sparked a romance with Luciana, and how fatherhood and his children have changed his life.
Speaking with Parade magazine, Matt explained, "I jumped into the deep end with Lucy. I mean, Alexia was already 4. I was an extra dad... The only way I can describe it -- it sounds stupid, but, at the end of How the Grinch Stole Christmas, you know how his heart grows, like, five times its size? Everything is full; it’s just full all the time."
April 2013 -- Vow Renewal
While the pair might have had a small wedding, they went all out for their special vow renewal -- held one decade after they first met in South Beach. The couple renewed their vows on the eastern Caribbean island of St. Lucia in a fun beach-themed affair attended by a star-studded collection of special guests -- including his best buddy Ben, and his then-wife Jennifer Garner, as well as Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones, among many others.
August 2015 -- 'Marriage Is Insane'
While his pal, Ben, was going through a tough, public divorce, Matt spoke with ET just a few months ahead of his 10th anniversary with Luciana, and reflected on the challenges and triumphs of married life.
"I think marriage is insane," Matt admitted. "It's a crazy idea, but I love being married to my wife. So I wouldn't tell anybody else about their relationship. But I'm lucky I found my wife. And I guess maybe, if there's any secret … it's to feel lucky."
ET spoke with the actor at the junket for his movie, The Martian, and he confessed that there’s no hard and fast rule to staying together in the spotlight. "So much of it is out of your hands," Damon said. "I mean, I just had that conversation with my father this weekend. He says the same thing to me. Says it's God's grace, is what he said."
August 2019 -- Tattoo Tribute
In celebration of the important women in his life, Matt got a tattoo of his wife and four daughters' names inked on his arm in cursive handwritten font.
L.A. tattoo artist to the stars Daniel Stone (aka Winter Stone) posted a black-and-white photo on Instagram showing off the work. "FOR HIS KIDS #alexia #isabella #gia #stella," Stone captioned the touching post. "Honor tattooing one of my favorite actors! #MATTDAMON."
July 2023 -- Letting Fans In
While Matt and Luciana have largely remained reserved and have kept their private lives private, the Oppenheimer actor has been remarkably candid about their marriage in recent months, and how much his wife has helped him and kept him afloat -- even when he was pulled into a bout of depression some years back while shooting a movie.
"I think, without naming any particular movies, that sometimes you find yourself in a movie that perhaps might not be what you had hoped it would be and you're still making it," Matt told Jake Hamilton, host of the YouTube interview series Jake's Takes. "I remember halfway through production -- and you've still got months to go and you've taken your family somewhere, you know, and you've inconvenienced them -- and I remember my wife pulling me up because I fell into a depression about, like, 'What have I done?' And she just said, 'We're here now.'"
"I do pride myself -- in a large part because of her -- at being a professional actor. And what being a professional actor means is you go and you do the 15-hour day and give it absolutely everything, even in what you know is going to be a losing effort," Matt added. "And if you can do that with the best possible attitude, then you're a pro. And she really helped me with that."
Matt then sat down at a panel discussion for Entertainment Weekly's "Around the Table" segment -- where he was joined by his Oppenheimer co-stars Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt and Robert Downey Jr., and director Christopher Nolan -- where he admitted that he'd promised his wife he wanted to take an acting hiatus, right before signing on to star in Nolan's World War II-era drama.
"This is going to sound made up, but it's actually true... [I] negotiated extensively with my wife that I was taking time off," said Matt, who explained that he and his wife were in couples therapy when they had the discussion -- and Matt actually added a loophole into the agreement they came to.
"I had been in Interstellar, and then Chris put me on ice for a couple of movies, so I wasn't in the rotation," Damon said, referring to his key cameo in Nolan's 2014 sci-fi drama. "But I actually negotiated in couples therapy -- this is a true story -- the one caveat to my taking time off was if Chris Nolan called."
"This is without knowing whether or not he was working on anything, because he never tells you," Damon added. "He just calls you out of the blue. And so, it was a moment in my household."
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