After enjoying the last three weeks with his new daughter Gia, Matt Damon played hosting duties Monday for the third year in a row at the OneXOne gala in Toronto, Canada. The event, which is being held in the midst of the star-studded Toronto International Film Festival, raises money to provide aid to children in need around the world.

Damon says that his expanding family (he now has two daughters with wife, Luciana) has inspired him to become even more involved with charitable work. “Something does change in you once you become a parent. …There definitely is a shift there that makes you, I think, a little more obsessed about helping children,” he said. “But it’s not like before I had kids, I was like: ‘to heck with those kids!’”

The 37-year-old actor also weighed in on celebrities working to make a difference in the lives of others saying, “I think you get a certain amount of celebrity capital . . . you can spend it how you choose. You can sell shampoo – you have your own choice and it’s a personal choice,” he said.

“A lot of my friends and a lot of the people I admire in the business choose to spend their celebrity capital trying to raise awareness about things and improve the conditions in people’s lives … We’ll all be lying on that bed one day, and you have to make your peace with who you’ve been.”

via CTV.ca

Categories: Causes
Tags: matt damon.

About Michael dEstries

Michael has been blogging since 2005 on issues such as sustainability, renewable energy, philanthropy, and healthy living. He regularly contributes to a slew of publications, as well as consulting with companies looking to make an impact using the web and social media. He lives in Ithaca, NY with his family on an apple farm.

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