Matt Damon Says It’s a ‘Major Adjustment’ for Family as Daughter Heads off to College

Matt Damon is still getting used to having to wave off another one of his daughters as she heads to college.

Damon’s daughter Isabella, 18, is the latest to fly the coup after her half-sister Alexia Barroso, 26, left several years ago. (Damon also shares Gia, 16, and Stella, 13, with wife Luciana Barroso, 48.)

The actor, 53, said that he and the family are still adjusting to the change during an interview with E! News in New York on Thursday, September 19.

“We have a 26-year-old, so we’ve been through this once before but it’s still a major adjustment for us and for her sisters,” he said. “It’s a different household with one less person there. So, it’s a big adjustment.”

The comments come after the Jason Bourne star opened up about his daughter preparing to leave for college in a previous interview with the publication.

“It’s a lot,” he told E! News in July. “It’s a surreal kind of time and the way it operates in your life, the older you get, because it just feels like I was holding her yesterday.”

In August, the Good Will Hunting actor was asked to share his tips for other dads out there raising girls, given he has four daughters himself.

“Oh, man. I don’t know. I wouldn’t deign to give anybody advice other than I just try to listen and be helpful,” Damon told Andy Cohen during an appearance on SiriusXM’s “Radio Andy.”

While he was self-deprecating about his parenting skills, Damon did suggest preparing children to be self-sufficient and giving them confidence to make the right life choices.

“I mean, ultimately, it’s about building self-esteem,” he said. “You know, 99% of the decisions they make, you’re not gonna be there, right?”

That same month, Damon told news.com.au that following the death of his dad Kent, who passed away aged 75 from cancer in 2017, it was important to him to share significant bonding experiences with his children.

“After my dad died, we moved down [to Australia] for four months and just went and camped all over the place,” Damon told the outlet. “I think because maybe he had never been, and it just felt like a place to go to make memories with my kids.”

Damon has often spoken candidly about loving his role as a father, and has previously admitted he has cherished taking on the responsibility from the very beginning.

“I knew I was going to love being a father and a husband. People who were already parents would tell me: ‘It’s great!’ ‘It’s wonderful!’” he told The Guardian in March 2012. “But I don’t think you can really appreciate it until you experience it for yourself. It’s really quite something.”