Matt Damon and family arrive for Amazon Studios’ World Premiere Of “AIR” held at Regency Village Theatre on March 27, 2023 in Los Angeles, California.
Matt Damon is a proud parent to four daughters — even though they can be his toughest critics.
Damon and his wife of nearly twenty years, Luciana Barroso, are parents to three daughters: Isabella, Gia and Stella. He is also stepfather to Alexia, Barroso's daughter from a previous relationship.
The “Bourne Identity” star tends to keep his personal life private and often shields his daughters from the spotlight.
The Damon family has made rare red carpet appearances in recent years together, including at the March 2023 Los Angeles premiere of “Air” and a July 2023 screening of “Oppenheimer” in Paris.
Over the years, Damon has also discussed the life lessons he wants to instill in his daughters, including gratitude.
He spoke to TODAY Parents in December 2017 about how he handles gifts, including free boxes of toys his daughters receive, explaining, “They don’t need anything. So we send everything on to people who need it.”
“When people send stuff to my kids, my kids have everything they need so we pass it right on,” he added. “This is the life we’re giving them. It’s hard to figure out how to try to give them perspective.”
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He also emphasized the importance of teaching his daughters to express gratitude for their lives, but noted to TODAY Parents in March 2018 that it was often a struggle.
“My kids are growing up with so much more privilege than I had. And I don’t think — I’m not sure how to get that across,” he said. “In terms of awareness of the environment, they do get a lot of that in school. That’s in the consciousness of the generations coming behind us.”
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He’s also paid homage to his family through his body ink, tattooing the names of his daughters alongside his wife’s name on his arm.
Damon told Access Hollywood in November 2019, “I got a tattoo seven years ago. On a whim, my wife just said ‘We’re going to get tattoos today,’ and so I got a tattoo of her name and it always felt alone my arm, and I always wanted to put the kids on there.”
From hilarious moments with their dad to important life lessons, here’s everything to know about Damon’s four daughters.
Alexia Barroso
Damon and Barroso first met when Alexia was 4.
Barroso opened up to Vogue Australia in a rare interview in May 2018 about first meeting Damon while he was filming the 2003 movie “Stuck on You.” Damon had come into the bar where she worked as a bartender with several crew members.
“Matt’s story is that he saw me across the room and there was a light on me. And I’m like: ‘Yeah it was a nightclub — there were lights everywhere!’” she said, adding that he started to get recognized and hid behind the bar to hang out. “He says, ‘Oh I saw you and I really wanted to talk to you.’”
Though she said the couple “definitely had a connection right away,” she turned him down when he asked her to go out with him at the end of the night because she was a mother to a young child.
“But I was like: ‘I can’t, I have a four-year-old daughter, I’m not going anywhere’… and that was one of the things he loved, that I had a daughter,” she explained. “He said: ‘I love that you’re a mum and that’s your priority.’ Some guys might have been different, they might think it’s complicated, but for him it wasn’t.”
In a December 2011 interview with Parade, Damon said he “jumped into the deep end” with his wife after becoming a stepfather and welcoming three daughters with Barroso.
“I mean, Alexia was already 4. I was an extra dad,” he explained. “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.”
Alexia was 7 years old when Damon married Barroso in December 2005.
In addition to teaching all of his daughters about gratitude, he also has been open about ensuring his daughters feel empowered. He opened up to TODAY Parents in January 2018 amid the #MeToo movement, noting that he and Barroso were most open with Alexia, their oldest.
“They’re very clear that their bodies are their own and no one is allowed to touch them,” he explained. “We’re just trying to raise good kids. We’re not having specific conversations about harassment. It’s about trying to raise kids who are respectful of themselves and others.”
Isabella Damon
Damon and Barroso welcomed their first child together, daughter Isabella, on June 11, 2006.
Over the years, the actor has been candid about his daughter’s honesty, calling her one of his toughest critics on several occasions. In July 2021, Damon told "E!" News, “If the reviews come out and they’re terrible, then she’ll watch it.”
“If they come out, and they’re good, she’s going to pass,” he added. “She’s looking for ammunition all the time. She’s like one of the funniest people I’ve ever met. She’s really cool.”
During an April 2023 appearance on “Late Night with Seth Meyers,” Damon said Isabella had not changed her tune, telling host Seth Meyers, “My 16-year-old likes to give me a hard time and she is very clear about not wanting to see anything that I’m in if she thinks it might be good.”
To give an example, Damon explained that Isabella said his 2016 film “The Great Wall” was “not very good.” While talking to her friend about the movie, she kept calling the movie by the wrong name and when he tried to correct her, “She was like, ‘Dad, there is nothing great about that movie.’”
Gia Damon
Damon and Barroso welcomed their second child together, daughter Gia, on Aug. 20, 2008.
Along with her sisters, Gia has gotten to enjoy plenty of family fun with her father. In October 2021, Damon appeared on “The Tonight Show” and shared the story behind a “rooster” hairdo he rocked during the pandemic, courtesy of his daughters.
While filming “The Last Duel” in Ireland, he brought along his family. When the production was paused due to the pandemic, the family decided to stay in Ireland until filming picked back up and plenty of chaos ensued, including a wild temporary haircut (and color) for Damon.
His daughters made the decision to give him an edgy look before he called Bono one night, so he let them dye his hair red. The fun, however, didn’t stop there.
“I was their art project basically, and it was clear we weren’t going back to work,” Damon said, noting that they weren’t satisfied with stopping at the red dye. “And so they mohawked me.”
Stella Damon
Damon and Barroso welcomed their third child together, daughter Stella, on Oct. 20, 2010.
Though Damon was already a seasoned father when Stella was born, he told Entertainment Weekly in November 2010 that it was still an adjustment after she was born.
“I’ve learned that if you decide not to sleep, you pick up all these extra hours in the day,” he explained. “We came home from the hospital the other night, and we were up with the baby and the alarm went off. And I realized, ‘Oh, s—, I’ve got to take the other kids to school!’ Their lives don’t stop because we had a baby.”
Though Isabella is by far his harshest critic, Damon told People in November 2019 that he faced “total resistance” from all of his daughters when it came to watching one of his most iconic films, “Good Will Hunting.”
Instead, he explained that they were more interested in his film “The Martian.” He said he initially didn't plan on showing them the movie due to its more mature themes, but ultimately caved when he learned that their classmates watched the movie. However, he had to make some adjustments to their viewing.
“I narrated the first 20 minutes because my youngest daughter was still pretty young and (in the beginning of the film) I have that hole in my stomach from the antennae/ She was probably 6 or 7 at the time,” he said, referring to Stella. “(She said), like, ‘Oh, look at that fake stomach. You know how Dad did that?’ I hit pause and kind of walked them through that.”
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