When you're a familiar face in Hollywood, it can bring a lot of perks. From special treatment at restaurants to free deliveries to their home, they come across a lot of free stuff.
Well those perks don't apply to Matt Damon who is currently raising 19-year-old Alexia, 11-year-old Isabella, 9-year-old Gia, and 7-year-old Stella, with his wife Luciana Barroso.
When boxes of stuff arrive at the Damon household, the kids don't even bother opening them.
"They don't need anything. So we send everything on to people who need it," he tells TODAY Parents. "When people send stuff to my kids, my kids have everything they need so we pass it right on. This is the life we're giving them. It's hard to figure out how to try to give them perspective. It's a source of tension in the family at times."
Like any parents, Matt and Lucy want to give their daughters everything, but they want to raise them so that they don't expect everything to be handed to them.
"What's the answer? You want your kid to have everything," he muses.
He uses his own experience in Hollywood to shape how his daughters are exposed to the lifestyle.
"It was 20 years ago, when "˜Good Will Hunting' came out, that people started sending me stuff. I went into Calvin Klein here, a few blocks away. My girlfriend in college bought me a pair of boxer briefs. They were my favorite pair of underwear. I remember thinking, 'if I ever make it, I'm going to have all boxer briefs.' They were like $20 for each pair," he says. "I went to Calvin Klein right after "˜Good Will Hunting' came out. I walked in and picked out ten pairs. I got them in white, in black and in gray. I had these boxes. It was a moment for me."
But that moment got even better for the actor.
"The salesperson came running up and looked mortified. "˜Do you want these? Just take them.' I had to pay for them. I wanted to pay. It was a triumphant moment for me that I could afford to pay for it. She wouldn't let me. I left there with ten free pairs of underwear, wondering, "˜What kind of world is this?'" he says.
Damon is no stranger to teaching his four daughters how to be humble. In 2015 he shared that he goes to great lengths to make sure his kids know their privilege and that they give back where they can.
"It is difficult not to see my four daughters in the eyes of the many young girls I've met in my travels through poverty stricken communities around the world," Damon said at the time. "It's an ongoing education just like it is for me, but I'm bringing them along as best I can. They've been born into a lot more privilege than I was and a lot of emotional capital as well. They've got a great mom and I like to think a pretty good dad too, and I expect them to do a lot. I expect that kids like that should do a lot, and they will have to if there's any hope for our world."
Damon and his family have been experiencing a difficult year. His father has been battling blood cancer, and The Martian actor has described it, as the most "horrible" year of his life.
"Any question about the future, we don't know what we're doing right now," he says.
