Keri Russell Says She Fell for Matthew Rhys Making The Americans
Keri Russell says she and Matthew Rhys were "having sex all the time" while making The Americans.
She said it on Dear Chelsea, the podcast hosted by Chelsea Handler, while looking back on falling in love with her co-star during the shoot. The conversation was reported by The Hollywood Reporter on 13 October 2026.
Russell said the two were falling in love and staying up all night together. She recalled having sex while still in disguise, in the wigs and pearls her character wore undercover. Making the show with Rhys was "so fun", she said.
The pair met on the FX series, where they played a married couple. Russell starred as Elizabeth Jennings. Rhys starred as Philip Jennings.
That overlap is the heart of the story. The Americans ran for six seasons from 2013 to 2018. Created by Joseph Weisberg, it followed Philip and Elizabeth Jennings, two deep-cover KGB spies — Soviet intelligence officers living under false identities — posing as a married American couple running a travel agency in Washington, D.C. during the Cold War in the 1980s.
Disguises were part of the job. The characters changed wigs, clothes and accents to blend in. Russell said she and Rhys were doing the same off camera, in a way. They were falling for each other between takes.
They kept it quiet. Russell and Rhys hid the early relationship while filming continued, according to later reports of the interview. It worked. They later welcomed their son Sam in 2016.
Russell also shares son River and daughter Willa Lou with ex-husband Shane Deary. Rhys was already a familiar face to television viewers, but The Americans paired the two for years in almost every scene.
On the podcast, Russell also joked about awards season. She said she told Rhys before the 2026 Emmys not to thank her in his acceptance speeches. The line got a laugh. Entertainment Weekly also covered her remarks about their time on the show.
What makes this stand out is how closely life followed the script. Viewers watched Philip and Elizabeth pretend to be in love for their cover. Off camera, Russell said, it was becoming real.
