While everyone is swooning over the love story of Ben Affleck & Jennifer Lopez,
it seems like the world has forgotten that his best friend, Matt Damon has his own legendary
love story. Unfortunately, it’s a love story that Matt and his wife, Lucy Damon, rarely talk about.
One day, she was a bartender, serving drinks, and the next, she was married to an acting star.
Don’t forget to subscribe to Rumor Juice and hit that notification bell to stay up today
with all the unforgettable Hollywood romance stories.
For years it was Matt Damon who was the one telling the story of how he met his wife, Lucy.
She was working at the bar, and he spotted her across a crowded room. Suddenly, he knew that she
was going to be the woman he was going to marry. It sounds super corny and almost impossible,
right? The idea of “love at first sight” is only something you really read about in romance novels.
However, Lucy has a different version to share of that magical night that happened way back in 2003.
She’s always been very private, letting her husband take the spotlight for most interviews,
but for an exclusive interview to Vogue Australia, she decided to dish on all
the details of what her life is like being friends with other celebs - best friends,
in fact with the Hemsworths, and the real story of how her fantastical Hollywood romance blossomed.
“I was working as a bartender in South Beach,
and he was shooting a movie there and the crew ended up in the bar one Saturday night…
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 joked.
When the actor started to get recognized amongst everyone else at the bar, he was swarmed by fans
asking for pictures and autographs. Naturally, the fans got a little out of hand since they’d
all been drinking, so Matt did the first thing he could think of. He jumped behind the bar and
hid from the crowd. Then he saw Lucy and said that he really wanted to talk to her.
“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!’ He had trained as a bartender for a film years before,
so he started making drinks.” Lucy happily shared.
It should be surprising that Matt made a bucket load of tips - not that he needs them,
let’s be honest - but everyone wanted to be served by him.
Lucy remembered it was a really fun night, and well, 18 years later, here they are.
At the time, Lucy was raising her daughter Alexia, who was only four years old at the time,
as a single mum; something she says was one of the things that attracted Matt to her. The connection
was instant, and they were both very comfortable with each other. At the end of the night,
Matt invited her to join him and his friends to go to the beach, but she declined. She told him
that she had to go home to her four-year-old daughter, and his response shocked her.
“He said: ‘I love that you’re a mum and that’s your priority’.” Lucy shared.
She was surprised because most guys she knew would have responded differently.
They would have thought that going out with a single mom makes things complicated.
But for Matt, it was totally different.
“When you meet somebody that you have a connection with, that’s just the person
that you have a connection with, all the other stuff— the movie-star part—wasn’t really a factor.
It was just Matt, to me he’s just Matt.” Lucy confessed.
Before starting her relationship with Damon, Lucy had been married to Arbello Barroso. Even
though they divorced, the exes still have a great relationship with one another and
co-parent their daughter. Damon also shares a good relationship with Lucy’s ex-husband.
In a rare interview with Star Magazine, Arbello showered praise on Damon for his parenting skills:
“I couldn’t possibly have asked for a better stepfather for my daughter than Matt. He treats
Alexia like she is his own flesh and blood. Matt has been an absolute blessing for my daughter.”
Two years later, the couple said their “I do’s” at City Hall in New York.
It was a private and intimate ceremony with only their closest friends and family.
They had initially planned to wed in Miami, but after a news leak about their wedding plans,
the couple moved the ceremony to New York to try and keep things more private.
But, when it came to renewing their vows, the couple spared no expense!
Eight years later, the couple renewed their vows in more lavish surroundings.
The venue was a rented-out luxury hotel in Santa Lucia. The elite guest list included
Chris Hemsworth, Emily Blunt, Ben Affleck, and many more. While this ceremony was
nothing like their first, they still managed to give the wedding an intimate feel.
“This isn’t a Hollywood wedding. Matt wanted it to be fun,
happy, and private. He felt like Luciana deserves this,
first and foremost. They’ve wanted to do it for a long time.” a source close to the couple shared.
Damon has always been one of the most secretive stars in Hollywood.
He originally tried to settle the family in New York to escape the glare of cameras in
Los Angeles, but he and Luciana failed to acquire a house in the Big Apple.
So, the family eventually decided to settle in Los Angeles.
Damon and his family didn’t have the same privacy they would have enjoyed in New York,
but the move brought them closer to friends and family.
For the most part, the actor has managed to keep his private life away from the spotlight.
He shared that his marriage to Lucy was the one thing that’s helped him keep his life private.
“I got lucky. I fell in love with a civilian. Not an actress and not a famous actress at that.
Because then the attention doesn’t double – it grows exponentially. Because then suddenly
everybody wants to be in your bedroom. But I don’t really give them anything.” Matt confessed.
Despite the secrecy, Matt and Luciana haven’t been able to avoid negative rumours surrounding
their marriage. In 2017, tabloids reported that the couple’s marriage was on the rocks
after they were spotted outside a therapist’s office. As it turned out, Matt was actually
there to consult with a therapist to help him deal with his father’s death.
The Damons recently moved with their daughters to Byron Bay for
a temporary break from Hollywood and to heal from a tumultuous 12 months in
which Matt lost his beloved father Kent, who passed away from cancer.
In early 2021, rumors emerged once again, claiming that Matt and Luciana had grown
apart during the quarantine period. A January report by The News claimed that the couple is
experiencing a rocky patch, but they are working on their issues. The publication’s source said:
“Since isolating together, she has noticed a change in their marriage. Prior to lockdown,
Matt was so romantic and hands-on, but not so much anymore.
Luciana gets frustrated with him. Matt and Luciana do still love each other.
They have been through rocky patches before and pulled through, so hopefully it’s just a glitch.”
No matter what the tabloids chose to spew out, the couple are still going strong.
Raising their daughters - they had another three daughters together – Gia, Isabella,
and Stella - Has been their biggest priority.
Matt and Lucy are committed to raising all their girls to feel empowered and compassionate.
“The thing for us has always been that we just try really hard to constantly
talk about self-esteem and compassion, and hope that will carry on,” says Lucy.
She knows that both she and Matt won’t always be there to guide their daughters when they have to
make critical decisions in their lives, so she hopes that they know to respect themselves and
respect others. She doesn’t want them to hold back on doing what it is that they want to do
and what makes them happy, but always think about how it will affect others.
“I want them to feel like they can do anything and everything they want to do, to just have to
go for it and try and don’t let anything stand in their way but not at the cost of somebody else.”
When she was asked what the secret to a successful Hollywood marriage is, Lucy says she has “no idea!
I just know I think we both feel, really, really lucky to have met each other so we
don’t take that for granted. It’s life and marriage, so there’s ups and downs you know,
but overall it’s easy and it’s fun. And he’s such a good dad.”
It’s no doubt that these two have a love story that belongs in the books. We’re sure that
Lucy didn’t wake up that morning in 2003 and think that she was going to meet Matt Damon,
let alone marry him. But she did! So at least you know that you don’t have to be a
celebrity to marry one. Falling in love can happen anytime, anywhere, and with anyone!