Matt Damon Says He 'Can’t Imagine' Living Under the Same Scrutiny as Ben Affleck: ‘I’ve Been Really Lucky’

Matt Damon feels for Ben Affleck when it comes to life in the spotlight. 

In a new podcast interview, Damon, 53, said he “can’t imagine” dealing with the scrutiny his best friend Affleck, 51, faces.

“I've been really lucky in that way … especially when I look at Casey's brother, Ben. I can’t imagine living under that kind of scrutiny," Damon said on the Radio Times Podcast on Aug. 6 while promoting his new film with Ben’s sibling Casey Affleck, The Instigators. 

“And it's been like that for 25 years and we've had parallel careers in a lot of ways and so I'm fortunate to have been kind of excused from that part of [it]," he added.

Damon's comments come amid Affleck's reported marital strain with Jennifer Lopez, which has been hitting the headlines over the last few months.

While Damon rose to fame alongside Affleck in their late 20s after their Oscar-winning turn in the 1998 film Good Will Hunting, he shared that their paths couldn't be more different when it comes to the media attention they've received in the decades since.

“That magazine culture that was so huge you know … 25 years ago kind of ignored me…” Damon recalled. “Right, like a guy who's married, it's so boring."

“What would sell those things were scandal and sex and all that stuff … and as long as you didn't do any of that stuff it wasn't really worth their time to wait to take your picture and so I ended up kind of getting left alone," he said.

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Damon went on to describe his first reactions to fame as a “bizarre, disorienting feeling” that he dealt with by getting lost in work at the time.

“I just wanted to get to work and so I kind of hid for a few years while I got my bearings,” the actor said. “Luckily fell in love with someone who was not in the business who would tolerate that side of it and that really helped me,” he added, referring to his wife Luciana Damon, who supported him at the New York premiere of The Instigators alongside their four daughters last month.

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Affleck and Lopez, 55, meanwhile, have spent much of the summer apart, including their second wedding anniversary on July 16. While Lopez had an extended stay in the Hamptons following a European vacation before her return to Los Angeles earlier this month, Affleck was often spotted in L.A.

However, a source told PEOPLE on Monday, Aug. 12, that Lopez visited Affleck’s rental home in Brentwood, Calif. while he was there on Sunday, Aug. 11. Earlier in the day, the Atlas star also accompanied his son Samuel, 12, to the mall.