In an industry as competitive as Hollywood, stories of genuine wholesome friendships are special. Case in point, Oprah and Gayle, Jennifer Lawrence and Kris Jenner – or, in this case, Ben Affleck and Matt Damon.These two successful actors have been friends for over 40 years and even got their first big break together when they partnered up to write and star in Good Will Hunting, the film that earned them Academy Awards for Best Screenwriting as twenty-something-year-olds.Since then, Affleck and Damon have also gone on to find success individually. Damon found popularity starring in critically acclaimed blockbuster franchises like the super-spy Jason Bourne series and the Ocean's trilogies while Affleck found recognition as a director and won his second Academy Award for the film he directed, Argo.Since their big break in Hollywood, these two men's careers and networks have only grown. It makes sense to wonder, in the many years between them while making it in a cutthroat place like Hollywood, has Tinseltown gotten the best of these two BFFs or brought them even closer?
Ben And Matt Met as Kids Through Their Moms
Affleck and Damon met when they were both very young in their hometown of Cambridge, Massachusetts, aged 8 and 10, respectively. Affleck revealed in an interview how his childhood was spent wanting to act out television scenes but no other kids understood the fascination until he met Damon.
When they got older, Affleck also saved Damon from a bully in high school that cemented their friendship from Damon’s perspective. "I remember that was like a big moment," he said. "He will put himself in a really bad spot for me. This is a good friend."
Are Matt Damon And Ben Affleck Still Friends?
Since their historic Academy Award wins, the best friends have gone on to achieve great things, even finding their happily-ever-afters.
Damon famously met his wife Luciana Barroso at a nightclub in South Beach where she was a bartender. It was love at first sight for the actor, and the two have been together for over twenty years, sharing four children.
Affleck’s love story might be a tad bit more complicated. On the set of Daredevil, Affleck met actress Jennifer Garner. The two married in 2005 and went on to have three children and seemed like the perfect family, that is, until, tabloids reportedly caught Affleck having an affair with the children’s nanny.
The two split in 2018, followed by a stint in rehab for Affleck and a rollercoaster of a dating life until – he reunited with his famous ex, and ex-fiance, Ms. Jennifer Lopez. After twenty years apart, the two tied the knot in 2022.
Fans might wonder whether Damon and his family were invited to the special occasion. After all, most likely the couple was also friends with Affleck's former missus. Not to worry; the Damons attended the lavish three-day wedding where the groom read aloud from a 12-page vow he wrote to Lopez.
Affleck And Damon Continued Working Together After Good Will Hunting
After Good Will Hunting, it took many years until the two partnered up again. It took twenty-five years because Damon revealed writing their first film was difficult.
“That writing process for ‘Good Will Hunting’ was so inefficient,” Damon explained. “You know, because we didn’t really understand structure so we wrote thousands of pages.”
“Back in the day, we didn’t have deadlines because nobody cared what we were doing, no one was waiting for the script, we were unemployed, so we literally had nothing else to do,” he said.
Now that the two have more priorities, like their families, the approach was more structured this time around. He said, “All right, let’s write from 10 to 2, you know, because we can drop the kids off and then we can pick the kids up.”
While writer-director Nicole Holofcener also stepped in to help them co-write The Last Duel with Ridley Scott directing, their second partnership was a success.
Aside from their acting and writing collaborations, the two announced a new studio venture called Artists Equity in hopes to create projects that are for a wider audience but still resonate “twenty years later.”
This might be telling of how, despite their other working relationships, the two have a special bond even when it comes to work, and this new business will keep them collaborating for many years to come.
Their Bromance Isn't Necessarily Exclusive
Through the years, the actors have remained friends and collaborators, but they’ve also added new Hollywood friends to their inner circle.
To the delight of Marvel fans, Damon has made cameos in Thor films as a Loki role-playing stage actor through his friendship with actor Chris Hemsworth. The pair have even vacationed together with their families, spending time in Hemsworth's native Australia to vacations in Costa Rica.
In one of the more trying times in Damon's career, the Hemsworth family “were just a huge support system for us,” Damon said.
As for Affleck, he's had a long-standing friendship with director Kevin Smith whose films he has also made a handful of cameos in. But in Affleck's previous marriage, Smith stated Garner's dislike of Smith and his sense of humor broke down their friendship.
However, since Smith attended Affleck’s wedding to Lopez, it seems the two have since patched things up.
Despite Other Friendships, Their BFF Status Remain Strong
Forty years of friendship and twenty-five years of working together, Affleck and Damon's relationship has lasted longer than most relationships in Hollywood or otherwise. Even though they both found A-level statuses in their industry, the two stated that their bond goes beyond the workplace.
“Like, I don’t want to be his friend in public, you know what I mean?” Damon said. “It’s way too important a friendship for that, and it goes so beyond this career or anything. You know, it’s a significant part of my life and not for public consumption in that way.”
In turn, Affleck spoke about how being in the public eye with his best friend made things easier. Damon was someone he trusted, could be himself with, and reflect with – and that the two loved each other. Awww.
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