Matt Damon recounts Australian holiday horror story on Ellen

Neil Frankland
Oct 27, 2017, updated Oct 27, 2017

Action star Matt Damon was horrified by his family's brush with an Aussie jellyfish. Photo: Getty

Tourism Australia is unlikely to turn to Matt Damon for an endorsement after the Hollywood star described his family’s trip to the beach at Byron Bay as ‘the worst thing”.

The 47-year-old actor, famous for portraying super-assassin Jason Bourne, was a guest on the The Ellen DeGeneres Show on Friday morning (AEST) when he opened up about his family’s April holiday with Australian actor Chris Hemsworth.

And while both Damon and Hemsworth reassured their children not to be scared of Australia’s many “poisonous things” he was horrified when his 7-year-old daughter, Stella, literally tangled with a jellyfish.

“It was the worst thing,” he told DeGeneres. “I mean, even Chris said, he was like, ‘Mate, that’s the worst thing I’ve ever seen in my life.’ Like, it was really bad.

“She [Stella] was in a little bit of surf, in about a foot or two of water … this thing literally wrapped around her. I could show you pictures that would turn your head. She had these, it looked like red shoelaces around her body.”

Damon said he and Hemsworth had to physically pull the jellyfish off his daughter.

“[I got stung] a little bit, but not like her,” he said, adding that he didn’t follow accepted wisdom and urinate on his daughters stings to relieve the pain.

“That’s what they say you’re supposed to do … you know she peed on me enough in her life.

“But, no. In fact, there was enough [stingers] around her chest that a lot of locals said, ‘You should actually call the paramedics,’ because you can go into shock.”

Damon said medical staff advised him to use hot water to alleviate his daughter’s pain.

“Like, if you put her in a hot bath and just gently sponge away [the stings]. They stick to you with these little needles, basically. It’s really painful,” he said.

In addition to Stella, Damon and his wife, Luciana Barroso, are also parents to daughters Alexia, 18, Isabella, 11, and Gia, 9.

DeGeneres asked Damon if he had any parenting advice for his Oceans 11 co-star George Clooney who recently welcomed twins, Alexander and Ella, with wife Amal.

“It took him into his fifties but I think he grew up, finally,” Damon joked.

No, he’s loving it. With twins, that’s a lot of work. But he did confide in me that they went onto solid foods last week, so he’s trying to get off diaper duty now. Because that’s a whole other level.”