Town & Country celebrates philanthropy with its June/July 2016 issue. Actor and philanthropist Matt Damon is the issue’s cover star, connecting with photographer Cédric Buchet. Embracing a casual summer ease for the outing, Damon is captured in relaxed fashions from brands such as Michael Kors and Levi’s.
Matt Damon Town & Country Photo Shoot
Talking to the magazine about celebrity and the influence that accompanies it, Damon shares, “I became famous. It’s surreal to suddenly wake up to one day and have a larger sphere of influence than you ever anticipated. You genuinely want to do good in the world, but you’re going to make a lot of missteps. People started asking me to come to this gala or that. And then I would find my name associated with things that I didn’t know anything about.”
The 45 year-old actor continues, “I didn’t want to be somebody at whom people rolled their eyes, thinking, ‘What is he doing, getting into the middle of this kind of stuff?’ And that’s why, once my life stabilized a little—my career was going pretty well, my wife was pregnant—I decided to get very serious about one thing.”
Discussing his work with Gary White and Water.org, Damon explains the lack of access to uncontaminated water in problem areas. Damon says, “We don’t know anyone who goes thirsty. We have faucets everywhere. Our toilet water is cleaner than what 663 million people drink.”
However, the actor points out that “The crisis in Flint, Michigan, ironically, is one of the first times, at least in my memory, that Americans have become aware of just how necessary clean water is, and the dire consequences of not having it.” Read more on TownandCountryMag.com.