Matt Damon says his wife had a brain aneurysm and had surgery a week before the Oscars ceremony in 2024.
Because of the health issue, he said the couple skipped the 96th Academy Awards ceremony, where “Oppenheimer” was nominated for several awards, but they did go to an after-party. He said they went because he felt guilty when she felt guilty about skipping the Oscars, when “The Departed” won Best Picture and several others. Damon was not nominated for either film, Variety reported.
Damon shared the story of his wife Luciana Barroso’s medical issues in an article for GQ.
“I remember I was shooting second unit for ‘The Bourne Ultimatum’ during that Oscars [where ‘The Departed’ won], so I didn’t go,” Damon said. “I was living in Miami at the time, and I had an infant. [My wife] Lucy and I were laying in bed watching it and so nervous for Marty. And then when he won, I was jumping up and down in the bedroom and I remember being really excited. And then the next category was best picture, and ‘The Departed’ won. And I realized in that moment I hadn’t even considered that that could happen,” he shared.
“The next time that that happened was on ‘Oppenheimer’ and we had this whole scary thing happen where my wife had a brain aneurysm,” Damon said. “She’s totally fine, thank God, but [she] had this brain surgery the week before the Oscars. But it was the first night she felt good enough to get up and had her energy back. And she surprised me and got a dress and we went out to the after-party, because she remembered that the last time it happened, I didn’t do it. And she was like, ‘This time we’re going out.’” He called her heroic for doing that.
He did not say whether the aneurysm had ruptured or give other details about the surgery, ABC News reported.
They may have another chance to be at the Oscars. “The Odyssey” is expected to have a nomination for Damon, with some saying he’s the frontrunner, Variety reported.
Barroso and Damon married in 2005, two years after meeting during a film shoot that had been relocated, the Los Angeles Times reported.
“We were supposed to shoot in Hawaii, and then the movie got moved to Miami . . . and I’d never really hung out in Miami,” he told Ellen DeGeneres during an appearance on her talk show.
He said a couple of guys from the crew of “Stuck on You” took him to a bar for a beer. “They kind of dragged me along, and we ended up at a bar where my wife was the bartender, and I literally saw her across a crowded room, literally.
“And eight years and four kids later, that’s my life,” he joked. “I don’t know how else our paths would have crossed if that didn’t happen.”
©2026 Cox Media Group
