Matt Damon's Ex Minnie Driver Recovers After Car Crash; Inside Their Love Story And Why They Split
Matt Damon's famous ex, Minnie Driver, is recovering from a neck injury following a really bad car accident. Amid this, here's a look into their love story and why they split.
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Add BollywoodShaadis on GoogleMinnie Driver, the Oscar-nominated actress and the famous ex of The Odyssey star Matt Damon, survived what she described as a "really bad car accident" in France. The Good Will Hunting star shared that she suffered a sprained neck after the crash but is otherwise grateful to have escaped with her life.
Whenever the actress's name finds its way to the headlines, fans can't help but revisit her sweet romance with Damon, one that blossomed during the making of Good Will Hunting before ending in an explosive breakup.
Minnie Driver says she's "grateful to be alive" after the crash
Driver recently took to Instagram wearing a neck brace to reveal that she and her friend, Ben, were involved in a serious accident while driving along a country road in France. She shared how another vehicle failed to stop at an intersection and slammed into their car. The actress recalled:
"We somehow walked out of it... Well, we didn't walk out of it, we crawled out of it, but we did get out of it alive."
Driver credited the safety features of the vehicle they were in for saving their lives: "The reason why I'm not dead, honestly, is the car that we were driving. I've never been in a crash before, but the 360-degree airbags are what saved our lives."
The actress, who is currently engaged to her longtime partner Addison O'Dea, lives separately from the filmmaker despite sharing a strong bond. But long before this, she was head-over-heels in love with her co-star, Matt Damon, who also became her most famous "public heartbreak."
Minnie Driver and Matt Damon fell in love while filming Good Will Hunting
Minnie Driver and Matt Damon met while filming the 1997 Oscar-winning drama Good Will Hunting, where they played on-screen lovers. Before they knew it, their on-screen romance played out into their real lives, with Driver later admitting that she had completely fallen for Damon during filming. In a 2012 interview with The Telegraph, the actress reflected on this "occupational hazard":
"In real life, by the time we filmed this scene, I was completely in love with Matt. I was blown away by his commitment to me as an actor; he was cute and intelligent and altogether a really charming package. I was young, and I fell for him – it’s an occupational hazard."
Damon was equally smitten at the time, and he even told David Letterman that Driver had "pretty much rocked my world." Their relationship unfolded just as Good Will Hunting transformed Matt Damon and Ben Affleck into overnight stars after winning the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.
While it soon became one of the most talked-about Hollywood romances at that time, it came to an abrupt and very public end in early 1998. During an appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Damon casually referred to himself as "single," a revelation that Driver later said was an inappropriate way for the breakup to become public.
Just weeks after their breakup, Minnie Driver found herself watching from the audience as Matt Damon and Ben Affleck accepted the Oscar for Good Will Hunting. The actress looked visibly emotional as Damon had come to the ceremony with his new girlfriend, Winona Ryder, whom he dated until 2000.
The breakup quickly became tabloid news as both stars continued promoting Good Will Hunting throughout awards season. Reflecting on that period decades later, Driver said: "I don't care who you are, that is agony, and it's like a strange, surreal dream. He couldn't have helped how famous he became and how his life was being picked over, in the same way that mine was."
How their bond looks decades after the painful split
More than two decades after the split, Minnie Driver reflects on that chapter with affection, and there is no more bitterness. In 2021, the ex-lovers unexpectedly ran into each other and spoke for the first time since the breakup. She later addressed it on the Keep It! podcast, saying, "It was actually very nice to see him, and his kids, and his wife. It all felt quite middle-aged actually, which was reassuring."
More recently, during an appearance on The Jennifer Hudson Show, Driver admitted she wished she could comfort her younger self after the breakup. "From this vantage point... I wish I could have told her, 'Honey, it's cool. Life's going to be great and beautiful and hard and amazing, and you're going to love again. It'll be fine.'"
Since their split, both have moved on. Damon married Luciana Barroso in 2005, and together they have four daughters. Driver is now engaged to filmmaker Addison O'Dea and shares one son, Henry.
Image courtesy: Minnie Driver/Instagram, X photos
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