Matt Damon opens up about being 'broke' with Ben Affleck after Good Will Hunting
Matt Damon opens up about being 'broke' with Ben Affleck after Good Will Hunting
Caroline Gaspich & Niti MajethiaThu, August 6, 2026 at 1:43 AM UTC
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Matt Damon opened up about his early days in Hollywood -Credit:Reach Publishing Services Limited
Matt Damon has plenty to celebrate with his film The Odyssey, but despite his status as a Hollywood powerhouse today, his path in the entertainment business hasn't always been smooth sailing.
Earlier this year, the 55-year-old actor and producer left fans stunned when he disclosed that both he and Ben Affleck were strapped for cash after creating the Oscar-winning film Good Will Hunting. He opened up about the movie during an appearance on the New Heights podcast, explaining, "So, we sold the screenplay for $600,000 which was just... so much more money than either of us had ever considered."
Matt revealed that he and Ben Affleck "split" the money between them. "But after taxes and agents and lawyer and all that stuff..." he frankly told hosts Travis and Jason Kelce that they each walked away with less than $150,000. Damon also recently confessed that his daughter taught him to stop using a homophobic slur.
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"The first thing we did was buy brand new Jeep Grand Cherokees," the actor shared on the podcast. "And we were renting this place in L.A. and you know, it didn't take long for us to be like, 'Dude, we gotta get another job.'"
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He continued, saying that "when we sold Good Will Hunting, we thought that that was absolutely it. And we were like broke a year later."
Matt appeared on the New Heights podcast with Jason and Travis Kelce -Credit:New Heights /YouTube
Jason responded, "Really?" to which the actor explained, "Yeah. I mean, not broke broke..."
Good Will Hunting hit theaters in 1997 with Matt and Ben penning the script and taking on starring roles in the production. The Oscar-winning drama also featured the late Robin Williams, Minnie Driver and Stellan Skarsgard.
According to IMDB, the film follows "A therapist who counsels Will Hunting, a janitor with a genius IQ," The project proved to be a box office sensation, pulling in approximately $225 million against a modest production budget of just $10-$16 million.
This year, Matt has plenty on his plate with his latest project The Odyssey. He takes on the role of Odysseus in the Christopher Nolan epic, which adapts Homer's ancient Greek poem of the same name.
Matt most recently starred in the film The Odyssey
The movie secured an "A" CinemaScore during its debut weekend and has dominated the box office. Anticipation for the film reached such heights that a pirated version of The Odyssey generated more than 2.1 million views on X in just two and a half hours before the account sharing it was taken down.
As for Ben, in 2026 the actor won an impressive $1 million for charity on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and appeared in Netflix's action-thriller The Rip alongside Matt. He also has a forthcoming Netflix action crime thriller titled Animals on the horizon, which he both directed and stars in. While the film hasn't received an official release date yet, it will boast a stellar ensemble including Kerry Washington and Steven Yeun.
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
