Why Matt Damon Doesn’t Make a Good Roommate, According to Friend Ben Affleck
They might be longtime BFFs, but Matt Damon isn’t necessarily someone Ben Affleck would call an ideal roommate. Over the years, both Affleck and Damon have opened up about their experience living together, including what used to get on their nerves when they shared the same apartment.
Ben and Matt have lived together many times over the years
Childhood friends who grew up two blocks from each other in Cambridge, Mass., Damon and Affleck found themselves living together not just once or twice but many times as aspiring actors.
Shortly before their Oscar-winning film, Good Will Hunting premiered in 1997, the two spoke with Interview magazine about sharing a home. “Ben and I’ve lived together in probably 10 different apartments with 10 other people who we grew up with at different times,” Damon said.
Best friends from ages 10 (Damon) and 8 (Affleck), the Bourne star explained he was “pretty much forced into hanging out with Ben” because their mothers knew each other. How they became friends aside, Damon and Affleck’s camaraderie endured. Today, they have one of the most long-lasting friendships in Hollywood.
Ben doesn’t ‘suggest living with’ Matt Damon
During an April 2023 appearance on The Late Late Show With James Corden promoting Air, the 2023 film about Nike, Affleck reflected on what it had been like to live with his friend and co-star.
“Matt’s a beautiful guy. I love him. He’s my best friend, he’s been great to me my whole life. He’s a brilliant guy,” Affleck began (via YouTube). “I would not suggest living with him.”
The 51-year-old continued, explaining why he doesn’t recommend Damon as a roommate. “Matt’s never paid a bill to this day, that I know of,” Affleck said. “We’re like, ‘Why are the lights not working?’ And that’s because the utility company needs money to continue to fund our electricity.”
Ben Affleck previously made ‘roommates mad’ due to his ‘problem with the telephone,’ according to Matt Damon
In the same previously mentioned Interview chat, Affleck and Damon both confessed to some of their own flaws as roommates. “For example, I’m a slob and I get yelled at for not cleaning up when the house is a mess,” Damon said, noting their “arguments are all the same.”
For his part, Affleck admitted one of his own shortcomings related to calling women back. “I have a problem with the telephone and I don’t return phone calls if I can’t deal with something,” he said. “It’s not because I’m cool — it’s because I’m a loser. And I’m afraid of dealing with something that’s awkward and uncomfortable.”
The whole thing “made one of our roommates mad,” Damon explained. “He would say, ‘Would you just call her back? That’s all you have to do.’ And Ben would say, ‘Yeah, I know. I will, I will.’ And then the phone would ring again, and he wouldn’t take the call.”
These days, closer to 30 — yes, 30 — years since that conversation, Damon and Affleck’s days as roommates are long over. Now, the two live with their respective wives, Luciana Barroso and Jennifer Lopez. Not to mention, they each own multiple homes, from a $17 million penthouse in Brooklyn, New York, to a secluded upstate getaway and a sprawling Georgia property.
