From a chance encounter behind a bar to a marriage that has lasted two decades, Matt Damon and former bartender Luciana Barroso share a love story that feels straight out of a romantic comedy.

Nearly twenty years have passed since Damon whispered the two words that changed his life forever: “I do.” On December 9, 2005, the actor married Barroso in a quiet civil ceremony in Manhattan. What began as an accidental meeting at a small Miami Beach bar turned into one of Hollywood’s most enduring and low-key marriages.

A Meet-Cute Worthy of the Movies
In 2003, while filming Stuck on You, Damon ducked into a bar to escape a crowd of fans. There, he met Luciana Barroso, a bartender and single mother to her four-year-old daughter from Argentina. To help him avoid attention, Barroso invited Damon to stand behind the bar—and even asked him to lend a hand.

“Years ago, Matt had trained as a bartender for a movie, so he actually knew how to make drinks,” Barroso recalled in a 2018 interview with Vogue Australia. “That night, he helped me earn a lot of tips, because of course everyone wanted to come up and see him. It was really fun.”

The connection was immediate. Damon invited Barroso to join him and his friends later that night, but she declined, choosing to go home to her daughter. Damon respected her priorities—and found himself even more drawn to her.

“Some people might think being a single mom is complicated,” Barroso later said, “but for him it wasn’t. When you truly connect with someone, everything else—including the fact that he’s a movie star—just fades away. To me, he was simply Matt.”

From Chance Encounter to Lasting Commitment
Two years later, on December 9, 2005, Damon—then 35—and Barroso tied the knot in an intimate ceremony at New York City Hall. The marriage also made Damon a stepfather to Alexia, Barroso’s daughter from a previous relationship. The actor has said that stepping into fatherhood so suddenly “opened his heart” and gave him a sense of fulfillment he had never known.

In a 2015 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Damon admitted that in his early 30s, he never imagined himself getting married. Meeting Luciana changed everything.

Twenty Years of Partnership and Family
After the wedding, Barroso became Damon’s steady anchor. While she often accompanies him to premieres and major events, the couple has kept their family life deliberately private. Over the years, they welcomed three more daughters together: Isabella, Gia, and Stella.

Despite his demanding career, Damon has consistently put family first. He famously follows a “two-week rule,” never spending more than two weeks away from home for work. In 2013, the couple renewed their vows in a heartfelt ceremony, reaffirming their commitment. Damon promised to keep his sense of humor through life’s ups and downs, to be a devoted father to their four daughters, and a true partner to his wife.

Speaking to The Telegraph in 2014, Damon reflected on his marriage: “I found the right person—it felt like being struck by lightning. My life is so much easier because of my wife and our marriage. Everything makes sense.”

A devoted family man, the Interstellar star even has his wife’s name and the names of all four daughters tattooed on his arm. In 2024, when the entire family made a rare appearance together at the premiere of The Instigators, Damon proudly embraced his role as a “girl dad.”

As for the secret to a lasting marriage, Barroso insists there is none. “I honestly don’t know,” she laughed. “We just feel incredibly lucky to have found each other and never take that for granted. Marriage has its ups and downs, but overall, life with him is light and joyful. And he’s an amazing father.”