As Mayor Tom Loftis on “Widow’s Bay,” Matthew Rhys faced off against a lot of spooky things in the show’s first season, including sea hags, an undead town founder, and a supernatural storm. But the scariest moment of his life may have been when his long-time love threatened to knock his teeth out. The actor revealed the moment to the world while accepting his Emmy for the final season of “The Americans,” a show he co-starred in with his real-life partner, Keri Russell. In his speech, Rhys explained, “[T]o the woman who truly got me this award, who just stands in front of me every day and puts up with me. She said, ‘If you propose to me, I’ll punch you clean in the mouth.'” The moment, which included a quick cut to Russell giving a joking shrug, got a lot of laughs, but it also raised some questions about why Russell would feel the need to warn Rhys in advance.
Eight years later, Rhys and Russell revealed what led to that memorable moment to Variety. It started earlier in the evening, when Glenn Weiss won his own Emmy for Outstanding Directing for a Variety Special and used the moment to propose to his girlfriend, Jan Svendsen. Rhys, who once dreamed of being a farmer before stardom came calling, recalled getting some gruff for his joke, but defended himself: “[W]e were all given 45 seconds, and that guy got eight minutes.’ You know what I’m saying?” Russell defended him, too, offering her point of view on the on-stage proposal: “Do it on your own time, man! For me to have to do anything public is horrifying. I would die. I would say no. Good night!” Rhys added, “Take your little award [get] the f*** offstage!”
Matthew Rhys drunkenly hit on Keri Russell 10 years before they started dating
The couple’s agreement on public proposals isn’t the only thing that’s kept their love going — although things could have started earlier if Kerri Russell had just called Matthew Rhys back in 2002. The two discussed their first meeting on “Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen” and it wasn’t hard to understand why Russell didn’t respond to Rhys’ attempt to land a date.
According to Rhys, after meeting Russell at a kickball party, “I very drunkenly asked for her number when she was a young single slip of a thing.” Russell had forgotten all about by the time she and Rhys reconnected a decade later. When Rhys reminded her of the inebriated message he left, it all came back to Russell: “I was like, ‘Of course I remember that!'” Rhys added his own take on the moment, jokingly noting that Russell responded, “You were that buffoon who wouldn’t stop calling.”
Over the next 10 years, Russell married, had two children, and got divorced, while Rhys dated Sienna Miller for a brief time. Not long after they started working on “The Americans,” the duo started seeing each other privately, but the world only found out after they were put through a terrifying night that made the papers. The two, who share a child, have been together ever since, and fans can’t get enough of their shared sense of humor, including when they were both nominated for a Golden Globe. Discussing with People what should happen if one wins and the other doesn’t, Rhys mused, “Yeah, if you win, I’m gone. If I win, you’re gone.” Luckily, neither of them won that night, so they didn’t have to break up.
