Meet Matt Damon’s wife of 19 years, Luciana Barroso: the Argentinian shares 3 children with the Oppenheimer actor, and holidays with the Hemsworths – but did you know they met at a bar?

May 9 , 2024

Luciana Barroso (left) and Matt Damon met in a bar in Miami in 2003 – and the rest is history. Photo: Invision/AP

If you’re wondering which lucky lady stole the Bourne Identity star’s heart, you’re not alone.

Matt Damon and Luciana Barroso appear to be one of Hollywood’s most rock-solid couples. Photo: @mattpdamon/Instagram

Matt Damon’s wife of almost two decades, Luciana Barroso, has been by his side since they tied the knot in December 2005. This rock-solid celeb couple tend to keep their personal lives private and often shield their daughters from the limelight.

Luciana Barroso and Matt Damon depart The Mark Hotel prior to attending The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute benefit gala celebrating the opening of “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion” on May 6, in New York. Photo: Invision/AP

Which is why when they rocked up to the premiere of Oppenheimer last July in Paris, it was a rare treat for fans to see the entire family on the red carpet.

Matt Damon and his daughters at the Oppenheimer premiere in Paris, last July. Photo: Getty Images

So what do we know about Luciana Barroso, the 47-year-old Argentinian who’s been by Damon’s side all these years?

How did Matt Damon meet his wife, Luciana Barroso?

Actor Matt Damon and his then girlfriend Luciana Barroso watch the game between the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park in Boston, in 2005. Photo: AP Photo

Barroso was working as a bartender in Miami when she first met the Hollywood actor. What’s more, their meet-cute is truly romcom worthy. Damon revealed on The Ellen DeGeneres Show that they met in 2003 while he was shooting the film Stuck on You. “I literally saw her across a crowded room,” he recalled. “I don’t know how else our paths would’ve crossed if that didn’t happen.”

In an interview with Vogue Australia in 2018, Barroso shared that Damon had approached her at the bar, but “he had started getting recognised and asked for pictures and autographs, and then it got kind of aggressive because people are drinking and stuff, and so he came and hid behind my bar”.

Actor Matt Damon and his wife Luciana Barroso arrive on the red carpet of the premiere of the film Downsizing, which opens the 74th edition of the Venice Film Festival in Venice, in August 2017. Photo: AP Photo

“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 continued, “He had trained as a bartender for a film years before, so he started making drinks. And he made me a tonne of money in tips that night, because of course everyone wanted to go and see him.”

How many kids do Matt Damon and Luciana Barroso have?

Matt Damon and Luciana Barroso share three daughters together. Photo: @mattpdamon/Instagram

Per People magazine, the couple share three daughters together: Isabella, 17, Gia, 15, and Stella, 13. Barroso also has a daughter, Alexia, 25, from her marriage to first husband Arbello Barroso, who’s also from her native Argentina.

Do Matt Damon and Luciana Barroso have matching tattoos?

Actor Matt Damon and his wife Luciana Barroso arrive on the red carpet of the film Suburbicon at the 74th Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy, in September 2017. Photo: AP Photo

Both Damon and Barroso share the same abstract tattoo designed by the late actor Heath Ledger before his death in 2008. Damon also has “Lucy” (Barroso’s nickname) tattooed on his upper right arm. The Good Will Hunting star explained during a 2021 interview with GQ: “We were in our apartment in Manhattan, and she was like, ‘We’re getting tattoos.’ I was like, ‘OK.’”

The Ledger-designed tattoo is reportedly on Damon’s arm and Barroso’s foot, according to People magazine.

Is Luciana Barroso friends with Chris Hemsworth’s wife?

Actor Chris Hemsworth and wife Elsa Pataky are good friends with the Damons. Photo: Reuters

In June 2023, Barroso and Damon were photographed holidaying in Mykonos, Greece, with Chris and Liam Hemsworth. The couple appeared to be in good spirits while the Hemsworth brothers laughed nearby.

They were joined by Chris’ wife Elsa Pataky, 47, who had previously celebrated her birthday with Barroso in Ibiza, Spain, in 2019. Pataky shared with People magazine in 2018 that their families met each other through mutual friends: “Chris has been a big fan of Matt Damon, me too, and then when I met his wife I’m even more of a fan of his wife.”

She also said that “The [Damons] came here for Christmas, and we were all together, and it was a really inspirational time. A few friends, we got together, and we felt like we had to have something to remind us of those great moments we stayed together, and we decided to get a little tattoo [of three dots on their pinkies] altogether, and we say ‘We’ll have to do one every year.’”

What are Matt Damon and Luciana Barroso’s secrets to a long-lasting marriage?

Actor Matt Damon and his then pregnant wife Luciana Barroso at the premiere of Hereafter in 2010, in New York. Photo: AP Photo

The Martian star told Entertainment Tonight, “I’m lucky I found my wife. I guess maybe, if there’s any secret … it’s to feel lucky.”

“I think marriage is insane,” Damon added. “It’s a crazy idea, but I love being married to my wife. So I wouldn’t tell anybody else anything about their relationship.”

Meanwhile, Barroso told Vogue Australia, “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.” She added, “To me, he’s just Matt.”

Fame and celebrity

In 2003, Barroso and Damon met at the Miami bar she was working in, and she put him to work making cocktails – 21 years later, they’re still one of Hollywood’s most solid couples
The pair share 3 children together, Isabella, Gia and Stella – and the same tattoo designed by late actor Heath Ledger – they’re also good friends with Chris Hemsworth and his wife Elsa Pataky