Matt Damon Reveals Wife’s Hilarious Crush on Ben Affleck Before They Met

Hollywood friendships don’t get much more iconic than Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. The duo has been inseparable since childhood, rising to fame together with their Oscar-winning screenplay for Good Will Hunting and continuing to collaborate for decades. They often joke about their “bromance,” but a recent revelation from Damon suggests his wife might have once been on “Team Ben.”

During a recent appearance on The Howard Stern Show to promote their new Netflix thriller, RIP, Damon shared a funny story about the early days of his relationship with his wife, Luciana Barroso. The actor revealed that long before they met in a Miami bar in 2003, Luciana already had an opinion on the two friends. As it turns out, her initial preference wasn’t for her future husband.

Damon explained to Stern that a few months into dating Luciana, he was introduced to her high school best friend. This meeting sparked a confession that Damon still finds hilarious over two decades later. The two women had gone to see Good Will Hunting when it was first released in theaters.

While watching the 1997 classic, the friends found themselves debating which of the two breakout stars was more attractive. Damon recounted that the best friend was adamant that he was “the cute one” of the pair. However, Luciana disagreed entirely.

“She thought Ben was the cute one,” Damon laughed, recalling the moment his wife admitted the truth. Upon hearing this, Damon remembered joking with her, asking if she had perhaps ended up with the wrong man. “I told her, ‘You got the wrong one?'” he quipped to the radio host.

Affleck, who also appeared in the interview, took the news with his signature self-deprecating humor. When asked if he ever sensed that his best friend’s wife once harbored a crush on him, Affleck denied it immediately. He joked that whatever attraction she might have had from the movie screen evaporated the moment she actually got to know him.

“I think something I did in real life rubbed it off,” Affleck said, laughing. Damon agreed, adding that once Luciana met Ben in person, “all that went away.”

The anecdote highlights the easygoing dynamic between the trio. Luciana Barroso has been married to Damon since 2005, and they share four daughters. Far from being an awkward wedge, she has become an integral part of the creative partnership between the two friends.

Luciana is now heavily involved in their professional lives as well. She served as a producer on their recent projects, including The Instigators and the upcoming film RIP. Affleck praised her producing skills during the interview, calling her a brilliant collaborator and a great friend.

This revelation comes at a busy time for both actors, who have been ramping up their collaborative efforts under their production banner, Artists Equity. Founded in 2022, the company aims to give cast and crew a fairer share of profits, and it has already churned out several high-profile projects.

Their latest film, RIP, is set to premiere on Netflix on January 16, 2026. The movie is a gritty crime thriller directed by Joe Carnahan. It stars Damon and Affleck as Miami police officers whose trust is tested when they discover millions of dollars in a stash house.

The film promises to be a tense, action-packed ride, marking a tonal shift from their previous collaboration, Air, which focused on the origin of the Air Jordan shoe brand. RIP also features a strong ensemble cast, including Teyana Taylor and Kyle Chandler. It represents exactly the kind of mid-budget, character-driven thriller that Artists Equity hopes to revitalize.

Fans of the duo have even more to look forward to in the near future. They are currently in production on another Netflix thriller titled Animals. This project will see Affleck stepping behind the camera as director, with Damon starring in the lead role. The plot involves a kidnapping scenario where a mayoral candidate must get his hands dirty to save his son.

Damon is also keeping busy outside of his work with Affleck. He is set to star in Christopher Nolan’s highly anticipated new film, The Odyssey, which is slated for a July 2026 release. This marks a reunion for Damon and Nolan, who recently worked together on the massive hit Oppenheimer.

In The Odyssey, Damon will reportedly play a major role, though specific plot details are being kept under strict secrecy, as is typical with Nolan productions. The film is expected to be a massive summer blockbuster, adding another impressive credit to Damon’s long filmography.

Meanwhile, audiences can still catch Damon and Casey Affleck in The Instigators, which was released on Apple TV+ in August 2024. That film, a heist comedy, saw the two actors playing reluctant partners in a robbery gone wrong. It was another production under the Artists Equity umbrella, showcasing the family-style approach Damon and Affleck take toward filmmaking.

With RIP hitting screens this week and several major projects in the pipeline, the creative partnership between Matt Damon and Ben Affleck is stronger than ever. The fact that Damon’s wife once preferred Ben is just another funny footnote in their decades-long shared history. It seems clear that regardless of teenage crushes, everyone ended up exactly where they were supposed to be.

We would love to hear which of the two stars you thought was “the cute one” back in the Good Will Hunting days, so let us know your pick in the comments.