Minnie Driver reveals why she looked downcast when Matt Damon won Oscar
Replying to a fan who highlighted how sad she looked when Matt Damon picked up his Oscar in 1998, Minnie Driver revealed it was because she was so heartbroken over their split.
Minnie Driver looked sad when Matt Damon won his Oscar for ‘Good Will Hunting’ as she was “devastated” their relationship had ended weeks before the ceremony.
The 53-year-old actress played Matt’s love interest in the 1998 film, which won the now 53-year-old an Academy Award for best original screenplay alongside his 51-year-old writing partner Ben Affleck.
In a resurfaced clip of the moment the pair scooped the trophy, Minnie is sporting a sad expression, and when one social media user said she looked “so sad” she opened up online about her heartbreak over her and Matt’s split.
She said: “Matt had ended our relationship a few weeks before this, and was at the Oscars with his new gf… I was devastated.
“Wish I could have celebrated more as it was an amazing moment for all of us, and for this wonderful film! (Heart emoji.)”
Minnie and Matt dated from 1997 to 1998 after playing love interests in ‘Good Will Hunting’ but their romance came to a halt when the actor announced he was single during an appearance on ‘The Oprah Winfrey Show’.
He told the chat show host: “I was with Minnie for a while, but we’re not really romantically involved anymore, we’re just really good friends. I love her dearly.”
Matt added they were still friends and said: “I care about her a lot. We care about each other a lot. It wasn’t meant to be and if it wasn’t meant to be then it’s not meant to be.”
Months later, Minnie branded the move “fantastically inappropriate”, adding to the Los Angeles Times in 1996: “It’s unfortunate that Matt went on ‘Oprah’ – it seemed like a good forum for him to announce to the world that we were no longer together, which I found fantastically inappropriate.”
She went on: “Of course, he was busy declaring his love for me on David Letterman a month previously.”
Matt married bartender Luciana Barroso, 47, in December 2005 and the couple have daughters Isabella, 17, Gia, 14, and 12-year-old Stella.
Minnie recently celebrated her five-year anniversary with filmmaker Addison O’Dea, 44, and she had son Henry with her 63-year-old ex Timothy J Lea.
