UPDATE: “I was talking about actors are more effective when you know less about their personal lives,” Matt Damon clarified of his comments to The Guardian during an appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show on Monday, Sept. 28. “I was just trying to say actors are more effective when they’re a mystery. Right?”
Original story continues below:
Matt Damon is a fan of leaving lots to the imagination. During a recent candid interview with The Guardian, the Martian star revealed that he thinks actors should cultivate a bit of mystery around their personal lives — and that includes their sexuality.
“When Ben [Affleck] and I first came on the scene there were rumors that we were gay because it was two guys who wrote a script together,” Damon, 44, said while talking about 1997’s Good Will Hunting. “It’s just like any piece of gossip… and it put us in a weird position of having to answer, you know what I mean? Which was then really deeply offensive. I don’t want to, like [imply] it’s some sort of disease — then it’s like I’m throwing my friends under the bus. But at the time, I remember thinking and saying, Rupert Everett was openly gay and this guy — more handsome than anybody, a classically trained actor — it’s tough to make the argument that he didn’t take a hit for being out.”
Damon, in fact, believes that actors — gay or straight — should keep their sexuality to themselves.
“I think it must be really hard for actors to be out publicly,” the Departed star continued. “But in terms of actors, I think you’re a better actor the less people know about you, period. And sexuality is a huge part of that. Whether you’re straight or gay, people shouldn’t know anything about your sexuality because that’s one of the mysteries that you should be able to play.”
The uber-private Oscar winner, who is married to Luciana Barroso and has four children, for his part, has played gay characters before, most recently opposite Michael Douglas in HBO’s acclaimed Behind the Candelabra.
