Keri Russell does not pretend that spending months away from Matthew Rhys is easy. She does, however, see some advantages.
The Diplomat star opened up about their relationship of more than a decade during the Oct. 8 episode of Chelsea Handler’s Dear Chelsea podcast.
At the time of the interview, Rhys was preparing to work in the U.K. for five months. Russell said he would return home occasionally during the job, which would otherwise take him away from their Brooklyn household.
“We have this gift of being apart a lot,” Russell told Handler. “And that is the way to do it.”
Russell Sets a 9 p.m. Bedtime When Rhys Is Away
“The house is mine. The bed is mine. The rules are mine,” Russell said.
Those rules apparently include a very early bedtime. Russell joked that everyone in the house is expected to be asleep by 9 p.m., and anyone looking for her after that should assume she has already gone to bed.
She also enjoys keeping everything clean and organized exactly the way she likes it. As Entertainment Weekly reported, Russell admitted that the house is probably “more boring” without Rhys. When he comes home, though, everyone is excited to see him, including her.
She Would Like to See Him Every Two Weeks
Handler asked whether the couple had rules about how long they would go without seeing each other and whether Russell planned to visit him overseas.
Russell said she would. Ideally, they would see each other about every two weeks, although she acknowledged that probably would not happen during this particular stretch.
She also described the strangeness of an acting career that can involve kissing other people for work. The couple became romantically involved while making The Americans, in which they spent six seasons playing married Soviet spies Philip and Elizabeth Jennings.
Now that both are in their 50s, Russell said they worry less about that aspect of the job. She joked that “even having sex with someone new sounds like a lot of work.”
Russell Calls Rhys the Family’s “Mom Dad”
Elsewhere in the conversation, Russell described how thoroughly Rhys prepares for everyday parenting duties, calling him the most “mom dad” among their friends.
Their son, Sam, is Russell’s third child and Rhys’ first. She also emphasized that Rhys is very much a father to her two older children.
Russell joked that her own approach had become more relaxed by the third child. When baseball comes around, she might be scrambling to get Sam out the door in his Crocs.
Rhys, meanwhile, arrives with snacks for the entire team and a first-aid kit.
Her Children Have Joined Her in Britain During Filming
Russell has also brought the children along when her own work takes her overseas. In an April 2023 interview with Vogue, she said they spent the whole summer with her while she filmed The Diplomat in Britain. The family visited Rhys’ relatives, including his uncle’s farm in Wales.
Rhys discussed sharing his Welsh heritage with the children during a May 2026 appearance on Live With Kelly and Mark, including introducing them to traditions and which family members speak the language.
Back home, Russell told Vogue, she enjoyed the ordinary routines that travel could interrupt: school runs, birthday parties and time with friends she had known since she was a teenager.