Keri Russell explains why ‘it’s nice’ spending time apart from Matthew Rhys: ‘A gift’
Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys at the 2026 Golden Globes on Jan. 11Credit: Christopher Polk/2026GG/Penske Media via GettyThe couple have been together for 12 years, after meeting on the set of their award-winning FX drama, “The Americans.”Key Points
Keri Russell explains why “it’s nice” spending time apart from Matthew Rhys.
“We have this gift of being apart a lot, and that is the way to do it,” revealed the actress.
Russell and Rhys, who played husband and wife on The Americans, have been together for 12 years.
After more than a decade together, Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys benefit from occasional time apart.
The couple, who also played a married couple for six seasons on FX’s The Americans, juggle their respective acting careers with three children (plus, a new dog). “We’re in a heavy relationship,” Russell admitted on the Dear Chelsea podcast. “But, I have this gift. We have this gift of being apart a lot, and that is the way to do it.”
At the time of the interview, Rhys was preparing to head to the U.K. for five months (presumably to shoot the BBC series Dragon Slayers).
Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys in 2015Credit: Taylor Hill/Getty
“He comes back around occasionally,” The Diplomat actress told Chelsea Handler. “But like, you know, as hard as it is, the house is mine… The bed is mine. The rules are mine.”
Under Russell’s roof, “everyone goes to motherf---king sleep at 9 p.m., like it’s lights out,” she joked. “I’m like, ‘Goodnight, everybody. If you need Mom, I’m asleep.’”
The family’s Brooklyn home is also “really clean” and organized without Rhys.
“It’s probably more boring without him,” Russell reasoned, “but it’s my rules. And then he comes back and everyone’s so excited, and we’re excited. You know, being apart is nice.”
Rhys and Russell also have their own set of rules for their de facto long-distance relationship. They each travel to visit the other on location, “especially in our creepy world,” she told Handler.
“This is such a weird business, where you’re like making out with [other people]... what a weird job,” continued the Golden Globe winner (who’s also received eight Emmy nominations). “If I can find something that pays me more, I’ll do it. Ideally, it’d be great to see each other every two weeks. It’s probably not going to happen this way.”
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Now that they’re both in their 50s, “we care about it less and less,” she joked, since the possibility of Rhys or Russell cheating isn’t realistic. “Because we’re like, even having sex with someone new sounds like a lot of work.”
In the same Dear Chelsea interview, Russell set the record straight on why Rhys didn’t thank her in either of his Emmys acceptance speeches, after winning for his lead roles on Widow’s Bay and The Beast in Me.
Ahead of the ceremony, he was incredibly “nervous,” she explained. “I looked at him like a few days before, and I said, ‘Okay, well, can you articulate what you’re most nervous about?’ And he’s like, ‘Yeah, having to speak.’ And I said, ‘Totally.’ And I said, ‘Take me off your plate. Like, you don’t have to thank me. I know you love me.’”
Source: Entertainment