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Matt Damon reveals eldest daughter had COVID-19 ‘early on’ but has fully recovered
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Matt Damon leaves the press conference for 'Suburbicon' at the Toronto International Film Festival in Toronto, Ontario, September 10, 2017. (AFP/Geoff Robins)
“Jason Bourne” star Matt Damon disclosed that his eldest daughter Alexia, who is attending college in New York City, United States, contracted the new coronavirus but has already fully recovered from the disease.
Damon is currently staying in Dublin, Ireland with his wife, Luciana Barroso, and their three younger children. The actor had been elusive to the public’s eye for months until his interview with local radio station Spin 1038, uploaded in its YouTube channel on Wednesday.
According to Damon, he was in the middle of shooting an upcoming film when the lockdown began last March. Instead of returning to the US, Damon decided to stay in the small town of Dalkey.
The actor said her daughter caught the virus “early on” with her college roommates but they all “got through it fine.” Damon added that they will be reunited with his eldest daughter by the end of the month.
The action star also emphasized that although everyone in his family is fine, the COVID-19 pandemic still poses a grave threat, especially to the older generation.
“Obviously for Lucy’s mom and my mom, you know, I mean it’s scary for that generation,” Damon said.
“I think we’ve all got the message now,” he added. “Everybody’s doing the isolation and social distancing and handwashing and kind of everything we can to mitigate this but it’s frightening, certainly for our parents.”
The actor also spoke with the radio show’s hosts about the 2011 Steven Soderbergh film “Contagion”, where he also starred. The hosts noted how the movie has transformed into a mirror of reality during this health crisis. Damon said that ten years ago, the movie was created by just talking to health experts about how “this would look and how this would go down.”
The actor added that the pandemic is “tragic” but he hoped “something good could come out of it.”
“Luckily this isn’t as lethal as it might have been,” Damon said. “So maybe this is a really good dry run for ‘the big one’ that might come because these things do come along every few decades. Best to be ready for it.”
This article appeared on the Philippine Daily Inquirer newspaper website, which is a member of Asia News Network and a media partner of The Jakarta Post
