As a father of four daughters, Matt Damon knows a thing or two about raising girls.
Despite his expertise on the subject, the actor, 53, was self-deprecating as he shared his best fatherhood tips during a Thursday, August 1, appearance on SiriusXM’s “Radio Andy”.
“Oh, man. I don’t know. I wouldn’t deign to give anybody advice other than I just try to listen and be helpful,” Damon told host Andy Cohen. “I mean, ultimately, it’s about building self-esteem.”
He added, “You know, 99% of the decisions they make, you’re not gonna be there, right?”
Damon and his wife Luciana Barroso share three daughters, Isabella, 18, Gia, 16, and Stella, 13. The Oppenheimer star is also stepfather to Alexia, 25, whom Luciana, 48, shares with her ex-husband, Arbello Barosso. The family made a rare appearance together at the New York premiere of The Instigators on Wednesday, July 31.
While most of Damon’s daughters are now old enough to date, the actor shunned the stereotype of being an overprotective father around their boyfriends.
“I’m fine. I’m cool with that. You know what I mean?” Damon responded after Cohen asked whether he’s the type to grill his daughters’ prospective partners. “That’s like an old trope that I think people, you know, like to play up. You know, dads like to joke about it amongst each other I think, sometimes, but no.”
In fact, it appears Damon has the opposite attitude around his daughter’s boyfriends, with the actor revealing he “adores” Alexia’s man.
“You know, at least, our [25-year-old] has, you know, she’s got this incredible boyfriend who Lucy and I just love,” Damon said. “We adore the guy and to see that she’s making those kinds of choices, really, it’s as good as it gets.”
The Jason Bourne star has often gushed about his role as a father, previously spilling that it was a responsibility he knew he’d enjoy from the get-go.
“I knew I was going to love being a father and a husband. People who were already parents would tell me: ‘It’s great!’ ‘It’s wonderful!’” he told The Guardian in March 2012. “But I don’t think you can really appreciate it until you experience it for yourself. It’s really quite something.”
With the couple’s kids now more grown up, Damon told CBS Mornings in July 2021 that they don’t let him get too big for his boots — particularly Isabella.
“[Isabella] doesn’t want to see any movies that I’m in that she thinks might be good. She just likes to give me s—t,” he quipped, noting she doesn’t want to watch the critically acclaimed Good Will Hunting. “My daughter said, ‘Hey remember that movie you did, The Wall?’ I said, ‘It was called The Great Wall.’ She goes, ‘Dad, there was nothing great about that movie!’ She keeps my feet firmly on the ground.”
