Key Points
- Matthew Rhys and Keri Russell met filming The Americans and became a real-life couple.
- They co-parent three children but are not officially married despite a long-term partnership.
- Balancing work and parenthood is challenging; they emphasize teamwork and support.
Matthew Rhys and Keri Russell didn’t just play a compelling couple on the FX espionage drama The Americans — they turned their on-screen chemistry into a real-life love story that’s lasted more than a decade.
“We were, like, hot and heavy in love, shooting the spy stuff at night in disguises and wigs,” Russell told Variety of their six seasons as KGB agents Elizabeth and Philip Jennings. “I mean, it was such a fun, sexy time.”
A decade-plus into their relationship, Rhys told Parade that the secret to their success is that they “balance each other.”
“There’s usually that thing where you need one person to be the calm head — that’s her,” he said. “And then I’m the kind of fiery one. … We work well as a team; we have a good partnership and we make each other laugh.”
Keep reading to learn more about their romance, including whether Russell left her former husband for Rhys (she was married with two kids when The Americans started filming in 2012), and if she and her “Welsh guy” have tied the knot themselves.
Are Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys still together?
Yes! They were one of the hottest couples on the red carpet at the Critics Choice Awards in January this year, where they each earned nominations — Russell for her performance in The Diplomat and Rhys for his turn in The Beast in Me. Neither took home an award, but they certainly won the E! Glambot:
In March, they were back on the red carpet at the Screen Actors Guild Awards (now officially rebranded as the Annual Actor Awards), where both were nominated once again. This time, Russell walked away with the win for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series, and she gave Rhys a sweet shoutout in her speech: “Happy Saint David’s Day to my Welsh guy.”
Related: Keri Russell Doesn’t Hold Back When Sharing Candid Thoughts on Plastic Surgery
Did Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys fall in love on set?
Yes. The exact timeline of their relationship is a little murky, but reports of a romance heated up in December 2013, after Season 2 of The Americans completed filming, when they were spotted walking around Russell’s Brooklyn Heights neighborhood a few days before Christmas.
Weeks earlier, the Felicity star’s publicist confirmed to multiple outlets that the actress and her husband of six years, Brooklyn-based contractor Shane Deary, had split. “They have been separated since early summer,” the rep said. “The separation is amicable and their focus is on their children.” Russell and her ex share two kids—son River and daughter Willa—who were 6 and almost 2, respectively, at the time.
That confirmation came just after Russell’s Brooklyn Heights home was burglarized and reports indicated that she was sleeping in the downstairs bedroom of her brownstone when the 3 a.m. break-in occurred. Many outlets noted that her then husband and kids weren’t home at the time, which is presumably what prompted Russell’s publicist to step in with the update.
As it turned out, Rhys was actually at the brownstone when the burglary took place, too, although that detail wouldn’t surface until years later, when Rhys himself shared it on the Smartless podcast in 2023. Recalling his response to the break-in, he told the hosts, “I remember thinking in any logical moment you’d go, ‘Let’s lock ourselves in the bathroom and call 911. And for some stupid reason, because we were very early days, I thought, ‘What I do next, she will judge me on for the rest of our lives.’” So he grabbed a fire poker and headed upstairs without a “stitch” of clothing on, he continued. The burglars ran out the front door before any confrontation could occur.
Related: Everything to Know About ‘The Beast in Me’ Starring Matthew Rhys
Who was Keri Russell’s first husband?
Before dating Rhys, Russell was married to Brooklyn-based contractor Shane Deary. They exchanged vows on Valentine’s Day 2007 and split in 2013. The pair kept their relationship — and the details of their divorce — private.
Did Keri Russell leave her first husband for Matthew Rhys?
None of the people involved have ever acknowledged any overlap or wrongdoing, and going by the timeline available to the public, there wasn’t any: The actress and her husband parted ways in the summer of 2013 and she and Rhys got together sometime later that year (Russell himself said they were still in the “early days” of their relationship when Russell’s Brooklyn brownstone was burglarized in December).
Still, as with any romance, it’s hard to say for sure when the sparks started to fly. Speaking to the Smartless podcast, Rhys described his relationship with Russell as “a very slow burn.”
“The first season, you know, I think we’re both trying to be sworn off to that thing … ‘I’m not going to do what everyone tells us never to do,’” he said, presumably referring to dating a co-star. But by “the beginning of the second season,” he added, it was on. (Season 2 started filming in October 2013.)
When did Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys confirm their relationship?
The pair never released a formal statement acknowledging their relationship, but People confirmed the romance in April 2014, after Russell and Rhys were spotted together at the Public Theater in New York City for Steven Soderbergh’s play The Library.
Rhys revealed in his 2023 Smartless interview that The Americans crew found them out in December 2013, when the district attorney for Brooklyn returned Russell’s burgled belongings on set with a photographer in tow.
When the DA held up a Filson bag, Rhys recalled, “one of the young PAs went, ‘Wait, that’s not Keri’s bag. That’s Matthew’s bag.’”
Do Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys have children?
Yes, they welcomed son Sam, now almost 10, between the fourth and fifth seasons of The Americans. Accepting the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama series in 2018, Rhys nodded to the boy by thanking the casting directors for giving him the role — and “by default … a son.”
Russell also shares two other children with her ex-husband: River, born June 2007, and Willa, born December 2011.
Speaking to People about how he and Russell juggle work and parenthood, Rhys said, “What we try to do is — how many of our friends do it — one works when the other one doesn’t.”
That often means that “there are moments where you’re ships passing in the night to a degree, and that makes it a little tricky,” he added. “But we try not to disrupt home life too much.”
Still, he admitted a couple of years earlier on a 2023 episode of Smartless, the rule is a bit “ridiculous.”
“It’s just, that never works out, right? Because like, what if somebody gets a great, great call and it’s, you just can’t say no, but this is your turn?” That’s what happened to him and Russell in 2022, he said, when she was filming the first season of The Diplomat and he was still working on Perry Mason. “Grandma came in and you know, the kids ate sugar for six months.”
Russell gave additional insight into how they negotiated that period, saying it involved Rhys agreeing to take on more work at home.
“I have done the birthday cupcakes,” she recalled telling him, in an interview with Variety. “I have done the doctor’s appointments and the scary nights and the washing laundry. And I have been there. I’ve done the back rubs, but I want three months — or a f—ing year! — where I don’t. It’s someone else’s turn — pick up the slack.’”
“And he did,” she continued. “And it was hard. You know, Matthew was shooting at the time, too, and I’m sure that was hard … And I was like, ‘Yeah, it’s hard — it’s called being a mom.’”
Related: Keri Russell on Why ‘The Diplomat’ Got Her to Return to TV
Are Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys married?
Not officially.
When Rhys won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series in 2018, he joked in his speech that Russell warned him against proposing to her onstage, as a previous winner did to his girlfriend that night. “And, finally, to the woman who truly got me this award who just stands in front of me every day and puts up with me,” Rhys told the crowd. “She said, ‘If you propose to me, I will punch you clean in the mouth.’”
Eight years later, perhaps that’s still the case!
Next: Keri Russell’s Net Worth in 2026 Is an ‘Americans’ Dream
About the author
Entertainment Editor, Parade
Patti Greco is the Deputy Editor, Entertainment for Parade, where she covers TV, celebs and pop culture. Prior to her current role, she was a freelance writer/editor whose work has appeared in Bustle, Elle, Vanity Fair and more.
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