Keri Russell talks steamy love affair with Matthew Rhys on The Americans: ‘We were hot and heavy’

Keri Russell got candid about her on-set romance with Matthew Rhys during their time filming The Americans.  

Cast as married KGB spies in the FX series starting in 2013, their on-screen chemistry quickly blossomed into a real-life love affair that captivated audiences throughout the show’s five-year run.

‘I was in love with Matthew,’ the Golden Globe winner revealed to Variety on Wednesday. ‘We were, like, hot and heavy in love, shooting the spy stuff at night in disguises and wigs.’

She added, ‘I mean, it was such a fun, sexy time. So fun, oh my gosh.’

More than a decade later, the couple remains deeply in love, creating a home in Brooklyn with their eight-year-old son, Sam.

Cast as married KGB spies in the FX series starting in 2013, their on-screen chemistry quickly blossomed into a real-life love affair that captivated audiences throughout the show’s five-year run

Keri also shares a son, River, and a daughter, Willa Lou, with her ex-husband Shane Deary. The couple parted ways in 2013 after seven years of marriage.

Back in May, Matthew opened up about experiencing a classic Hollywood romance, one that even surprised the couple with its cliché nature.

He admitted they found themselves doing ‘everything your producers tell you not to do’ during an interview with People.

‘At our ripe old ages, we were like, ‘Oh, we’ve done it. We’ve cracked it. We’re never going to follow that well-trodden path of cliché,” he reminisced about the early stages of their romance, which they kept secret for a year.

Eventually, they decided it was time to reveal their relationship to the show’s team, simply because it became impossible to conceal any longer.

‘So when we told our producers, like, ‘Oh, we do have something to say,’ they were like, ‘Oh, don’t tell us you’re together.’ We said, ‘Actually, we’re going to have a baby.’ They were like, ‘Oh my God,’ because we’d kept it a secret for so long.’

However, it wasn’t exactly love at first sight for Keri and Matthew. 

During a 2017 appearance on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen, the couple reminisced about their initial meeting in 2002, when Rhys, feeling a bit tipsy, awkwardly asked Russell for her number.

‘I was in love with Matthew,’ the Golden Globe winner revealed to Variety on Wednesday. ‘We were, like, hot and heavy in love, shooting the spy stuff at night in disguises and wigs’

Keri added, ‘I mean, it was such a fun, sexy time. So fun, oh my gosh’ 

Keri also shares a son, River, and a daughter, Willa Lou, with her ex-husband Shane Deary

Keri donned a dramatic ensemble for the photo shoot

More than a decade later, the couple remains deeply in love, creating a home in Brooklyn with their 8-year-old son, Sam; (pictured 2019)

‘I very drunkenly asked for her number,’ Rhys recalled.

Their first encounter took place in a parking lot after a kickball game, where they chatted and Russell even asked Rhys for help opening her beer. Rhys later left her a drunken voicemail, but she never called back.

Russell didn’t think much of their brief meeting until nearly a decade later, while filming The Americans.

She reminded Rhys, ‘At a lunch, you said, ‘You know, we’ve met before,’ and I said, ‘No, we haven’t.’ You said, ‘Yeah, 10 years ago at a kickball party.’ As soon as you said that, I went, ‘Of course I remember that!”