Matt Damon Recalls ‘Crazy’ Dream After His Dad Died: ‘All I Knew Was He Was There’

Matt Damon is reflecting on some of his earliest childhood moments as he remembers his late father.

The actor’s father, Kent Damon, died from rare blood disease multiple myeloma on Dec. 14, 2017, at age 74.

Damon, 53, revealed during an appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on Monday the “crazy dream” that helped him remember one of his earliest moments with his father.

“After my father passed away in 2017, within that year, I had this crazy dream,” said Damon after being asked about his earliest memory. “He came to me in a dream, and he embraced me. And the feeling that I got was the feeling that I had — which I think is like my first memory — which was the feeling of what it felt like to be held by him.”

Damon said the feeling gave him a sense of “overwhelming protection and love.”

“All I knew was that he was there and that I was feeling that embrace,” continued Matt. “And it reminded me that I must have felt that as one of the very first things that I was aware of as my consciousness came online.”

On the first anniversary of his father’s death, Damon hosted Saturday Night Live and opened up about how it was a special show for him and Kent.

“Week after week, I tried to stay up, and it wasn’t until I was 8 years old that I made it all the way to the end,” recalled Damon. “I probably didn’t get all the jokes, but I laughed at everything that my dad laughed at. And although it was way past our bedtime, my dad knew there was nothing more important in the world than to laugh with the people that you love.”

In March 2018, Damon opened up to PEOPLE about how his father’s death also affected his longtime friend Ben Affleck.

“The guy is like a brother to me and there are ups and downs in life,” said Damon. “It was a bad year for him, too. He was very, very close to my father, they had a great relationship. Loved each other a lot. So last year was no real picnic for him either.”

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While speaking with PEOPLE in April 2023, Affleck, 51, echoed the same sentiments, remembering Damon’s late father as someone “who I adore and love enormously.”