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Keri Russell is opening up about why she and partner Matthew Rhys don’t plan to tie the knot despite being together for nearly 13 years.
“We have kids, so that’s forever,” she insisted on the Wednesday, October 8, episode of the “Dear Chelsea” podcast. “To me, [marriage is] antiquated.”
Russell, 50, and Rhys, 51, started seeing each other in late 2013 while playing Soviet sleeper agents on the acclaimed Cold War drama series The Americans. They welcomed a son, Sam, in May 2016. (Russell also shares two children — son River, 19, and daughter Willa, 13 — with her ex-husband, Shane Deary.)
The subject of long-term commitment came up when “Dear Chelsea” host Chelsea Handler said she “loves” that Rhys and Russell are “not married.”
“Yep, I love it too. It is fun,” Russell concurred.
The Diplomat actress pointed out that she already went through the formalities of planning a wedding with her ex-husband, so she doesn’t feel any pull to have another one. (Russell and Deary, 50, tied the knot in New York in February 2007. They separated in early 2013 and finalized their divorce the next year.)
“I’ve had a big party. I get to dress up all time [for work],” she jokes. “And I know for a lot of people, marriage is something different. People used to have to be married to have a credit card. We can have credit cards now. I don’t need my last name to go away.”
She added, “I’m cool. If you want to be here, be here! If you don’t, that’s cool too.”
In that same interview, Russell shut down speculation about why Rhys failed to thank her while accepting the Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series Award for Widow’s Bay at the 2026 Emmys.
According to Russell, her partner was “nervous” about potentially giving an acceptance speech before this year’s Emmys.
“I looked at him, like, a few days before, and I said, ‘OK, well, can you articulate what you’re most nervous about?’” Russell clarified. “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.’”
She added, “People still give him a hard time because he didn’t say their name [when he won for The Americans]. Like, it’s so crazy. People get nuts. It’s stupid and it’s also lame.”
“We kind of said to each other, we don’t have to thank each other. … Like, to go back to your thing, this is for the business people. Like, thank whoever you want to thank,” the actress declared.
For his part, Rhys confessed to E! News shortly after winning his two most recent Emmys that he “didn’t really prepare anything” prior to the ceremony.
“[That] is why I vomited that speech,” he teased.
Rhys made history by becoming the first male actor to win the Outstanding Lead Actor Emmy in all three major categories — drama, comedy and limited series. He first won the Emmy for drama The Americans in 2018 before receiving the equivalent award for comedy Widow’s Bay and limited series The Beast in Me this year.
Russell was also nominated for The Diplomat at this year’s Emmys, though she lost the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series Award to Pluribus‘ Rhea Seehorn.
