How Matt & Luciana Found Forever in a Miami Nightclub

Miami, South Beach – April 8, 2003

Luciana Barroso, 27, from Argentina, was bartending at a hot club called Crobar. She had moved to the U.S. years earlier, was raising her 4-year-old daughter Alexia alone after Alexia’s biological father left, and was working every shift she could get.

The crew of the Farrelly Brothers comedy Stuck on You was shooting in Miami. One night Matt Damon (32) and some of the cast and crew wandered into Crobar after wrap. Within minutes fans and paparazzi spotted him. Matt, hating the attention, ducked behind the bar and asked Luciana if he could hide there for a bit.

Luciana had no idea who he was — she barely watched movies and certainly didn’t recognize the guy from Good Will Hunting or The Bourne Identity. She looked at him and said:

“You can stand here if you want, but you’re going to work.”

Matt laughed, rolled up his sleeves, and spent the rest of the night pulling beers, making drinks, and helping her close the bar. They talked nonstop. He was charmed by her directness, her accent, and the way she ran the bar like a general. She liked that he wasn’t arrogant and that he actually knew how to work a sink full of glasses.

At 4 a.m., when the place was empty, he finally told her his full name. She laughed out loud — she still hadn’t known she’d just put a movie star on dish duty.He asked for her number. She gave it. He called two days later.

They started dating quietly. Matt was still a massive star, but Luciana had zero interest in Hollywood. She kept working at the bar for months because she refused to depend on anyone. Matt respected that more than anything.

2005

Matt proposed on September 9, 2005. They married in a small, private civil ceremony at New York City Hall on December 9, 2005 — just the two of them, Alexia, and a few close friends. (They later threw a bigger celebration in St. Lucia in 2013 for their vow renewal.)

From day one, Matt told Luciana, “Alexia is 100% my daughter. That’s it.” He legally adopted Alexia, and she has always called him Dad. He has never, ever referred to her as his “stepdaughter” in public or private.

They went on to have three more daughters together:

• Isabella (born June 2006)
• Gia Zavala (born August 2008)
• Stella Zavala (born October 2010)

How they stayed together when 99% of Hollywood couples don’t

• Luciana never moved into the spotlight. She has done maybe five interviews in 22 years.
• They raised the girls as normally as possible — public school for years, no nannies raising the kids, family dinners every night Matt is home.
• Matt has repeatedly says the key is “I married way over my head. She’s smarter, stronger, and more patient than me.”
• They still speak Spanish at home (all four girls are fluent).
• Matt turned down roles that would keep him away for months at a time when the girls were little.
• Their rule: whoever is working, the other parent is on full-time kid duty. No discussion.

December 2025 – where they are right now

Matt (55) and Luciana (49) have been together 22 years, married 20. They still live primarily in Los Angeles but also keep a New York apartment. Alexia (now 27) is married and gave them their first grandchild in 2024. The three younger girls are in college and high school.

Matt still calls April 8 “the luckiest night of my life.”

Luciana still jokes that she only kept him because “he’s good at washing dishes and even better at homework help.“

In every interview Matt has given for two decades, when asked about the best decision he ever made, he gives the same answer, word for word:

“Marrying Luciana and becoming Alexia’s dad. Everything good in my life started the night I hid behind that bar.”

It’s not a fairy tale. It’s better — it’s real, grounded, and still going strong after 22 years. The bar-back from South Beach and the bartender from Buenos Aires are still each other’s favorite person, still raising their four daughters, still laughing about the night a movie star begged to hide… and she made him earn it.