Matt Damon’s eldest daughter Alexia, 21, tests positive for coronavirus as he quarantines in Scotland
Matt Damon has revealed that his eldest daughter, Alexia, contracted COVID-19 but has since recovered. The 49-year-old actor shared this as he virtually appeared on Spin 1083's ‘Fully Charged with Graham & Nathan’ on Wednesday, May 13.
Opening up about his life in quarantine with his wife Luciana and three daughters, Stella Zavala, 9, Gia Zavala, 11, and Isabella, 13, Damon said they were social distancing in Dalkey, Ireland.
‘The Martian’ star was shooting a film on location when the coronavirus lockdown was implemented, forcing him and his family to stay put.
His eldest one, Alexia, 21, who is Luciana's daughter from a previous relationship, remained in New York where she was attending college. Damon said Alexia and her roommates did contract the virus early, but thankfully they, "got through it fine.”
“We’ve got the three younger ones and our oldest one, we’ll reunite with her at the end of the month... But everybody’s okay,” he added.
Continuing further, the actor said, “I think we’ve all got the message now, everybody’s doing the isolation and the social distancing and hand washing, everything we can to mitigate this. We’re going to go back to Los Angeles and she’s (Alexia) going to come out so we’ll all be together and figure out what the heck we’re going to do. It’s such an odd limbo that we’re all in."
However, the ‘Ford v Ferrari’ star admitted he is, "a little worried about going home." "We don’t have adequate testing so there’s going to be another surge it looks like back home," he said. "There are all these areas in America that it hadn’t really penetrated and now, y’ know…”
Damon also talked about the prescience of his 2011 movie ‘Contagion’ that predicted what would happen if a pandemic plague spread across the world. “The whole thing is tragic and sad. I hope some good can come out of it. Luckily this isn't as lethal as it might have been, so maybe this was a really good dry run for the big one that might come because these things do come along every few decades so it's best to be ready for it,” the ‘Good Will Hunting’ star said.
During the interview, Damon also praised Ireland Prime Minister Leo Varadkar for all the work he was doing amid the outbreak.
“You've got a president who just goes to the hospital and starts working. I mean what a badass, it's just on another level,” the actor said.
The actor also surprised an avid fan and frontline worker over the video call at the end of the radio show. He showed his gratitude towards nurse Anaise for her help during the pandemic and shared his appreciation for her and all other first responders and essential workers.
“Thank you so much for what you're doing Anaise. I can't even tell you. This has been so horrible for everybody, but if there's any silver lining, it's that hopefully, people are finally understanding how awesome your frontline workers are,” Damon said.