Matt Damon’s Best Screenplay win at the 1998 Academy Awards was a bittersweet moment for the actor’s ex, Minnie Driver.
“My face 😂😂😂😂❤️” Driver, 53, commented on an Instagram clip of Damon, 53, and Ben Affleck accepting the award for 1997’s Good Will Hunting. During the broadcast, Driver was shown with a wistful look on her face as Affleck gave her a shout-out for her “brilliant” performance as Skylar in the film.
In response to another comment on the post, which read, “Minnie looks so sad,” Driver elaborated on why she appeared upset at the awards ceremony. “Matt had ended our relationship a few weeks before this, and was at the Oscars with his new gf … I was devastated,” she revealed.
Though Driver did not identify the woman by name, Damon was linked to Winona Ryder not long after he and Driver split in 1998. “Wish I could have celebrated more as it was an amazing moment for all of us, and for this wonderful film! ♥️,” she added.
The exes met while playing love interests on the set of 1997’s Good Will Hunting. The film won two out of the nine Oscars it was nominated for the following year, including Best Supporting Actor for Robin Williams. Driver and Damon were also nominated for Best Supporting Actress and Best Actor, respectively.
Two months before the Oscars, Damon revealed that he and Driver had split by announcing he was single during a January 1998 talk show appearance. Driver recalled their highly publicized breakup feeling like a “strange, surreal dream,” in a May 2022 interview with Entertainment Tonight.
Driver went on to share that there was a cameraman “in [her] grill” at the 1998 Oscars and compared him to “a wildlife photographer waiting for the kill.” She continued: “He was just waiting for the moment that I was going to break or something was going to happen, or I was going to get up and scream. He’d been told, ‘Stay on her, bud. Something’s gonna happen.’”
The Speechless alum credits her father for helping her make it through the ceremony. “He was just squeezing my hand, and so he was doing what a dad does, which is protecting their kid,” Driver told the outlet.
Although her relationship with Damon didn’t have a happy ending, Driver noted that she looks back on their romance “with love.” She explained, “That was just a sweet romance that was just a sweet love affair in the center of all that stuff, but had a combustible ending, which then became the focus.”
Driver and Damon have each found new love in the years since their relationship. Driver, who shares a son with ex Timothy J. Lea, celebrated her fifth anniversary with fiancé Addison O’Dea last month. Damon, meanwhile, is father to daughters Isabella, 16, Gia, 14, and Stella, 13, with wife Luciana Barroso. (Luciana, 47, shares daughter Alexia, 24, with her ex-husband, Arbello Barroso.)
