Matt Damon unveiled a glimpse into his personal life, sharing that he and his Argentine wife, Luciana Barroso, engage in couples therapy.
The revelation came amid the promotional activities for his latest film, Oppenheimer, where Damon emphasized the profound impact of the project on both his personal and professional spheres.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Damon disclosed that he had contemplated taking a hiatus from acting before joining the Oppenheimer cast. However, the actor was candid about the challenges in his marital relationship and how couples therapy became a pivotal component in addressing those issues.
During therapy sessions, Damon had committed to taking a break from work, with the condition that esteemed director Christopher Nolan did not extend a role offer to him. To his wife's dismay, Nolan precisely made such an unexpected proposition.
Damon recounted, "This is going to sound made up, but it's actually true. I had negotiated extensively with my wife that I was going to take some time off... the only caveat to me taking time off was if Chris Nolan called. And that's without knowing if he was working on something or not, because he never tells you. He calls you without warning."
Cillian Murphy, who portrays Robert Oppenheimer in the film, corroborated Damon's account, highlighting Nolan's distinctive practice of surprising actors with project invitations.
“Chris's way of acting is that he calls you out of the blue... 'I would like you to play Oppenheimer.' I had to sit down. It was overwhelming.”
While Damon acknowledged the strain his profession has put on his family in the past, he also revealed how his wife played a crucial role in encouraging him to persist in the film industry.
“She (Lucia Barroso) only said: 'We are here'... I am proud, largely thanks to her, to be a professional actor... And if you can do it with the best attitude possible, then you're a professional, and she helped me a lot with that.”
In Oppenheimer, Damon portrays Leslie Groves, a military engineer overseeing the Manhattan Project. In a separate interview, he delved into his role's nuances and its influence on Robert Oppenheimer's character, describing the film as a subjective journey through Oppenheimer's eyes, revealing the complexities and brilliance of the narrative structure.
