Matt Damon’s daughters are growing up, but the actor says family time is still “non-negotiable.”
“I feel like we are facing it and embracing the fact that it’s happening,” he told PEOPLE about the prospect of he and wife Luciana becoming empty-nesters. “We’ve been talking a lot about presence and about really trying to be in the moment, and because you can’t slow time down, the only way to really do it is to really be there and be in it.”
Damon said the family “challenges” each other to stay off of their phones, while he and his wife continue to try “to be mindful of holding onto what we can.”
The couple share four daughters — Alexia, 27, Isabella, 20, Gia, 17, and Stella, 15.
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“We have family dinner every night, and that’s non-negotiable, and it’s always been that way,” the actor said.
However, to work on his latest project, a movie adaptation of THE ODYSSEY, Damon admitted he broke his family’s “two-week rule” — basically, they can’t be apart as a family for over two weeks.
“We’ve always had a two-week rule. This was the first time that we ever had to violate it,” he told TODAY of the movie’s production. “There [were], like, stretches of, like, three and a half weeks, and we were just away from each other.”
Damon called THE ODYSSEY a “big sacrifice” for his family, adding, “It was hard on us, and I’m so proud of the movie, but I’m so proud of them for really encouraging me. I feel like my whole professional life built up to this experience, and they really were really on board with me doing it, and I love them for that.”
The actor has frequently spoken about his parenthood journey, including becoming a stepfather to a 4-year-old Alexia when he married Luciana.
“I jumped into the deep end with Lucy. I mean, Alexia was already 4. I was an extra dad,” he told Parade in 2011. “The only way I can describe [parenthood] — it sounds stupid, but — at the end of HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS, you know how his heart grows, like, five times its size? Everything is full; it’s just full all the time.”
In a 2012 interview with The Guardian, Damon gushed, “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!’ But I don’t think you can really appreciate it until you experience it for yourself. It’s really quite something.”
Damon might be one of Hollywood’s biggest stars, but for the actor and father of four, family always comes first.
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