Keri Russell reveals why she refuses to marry Matthew Rhys following 13 years together... as she defends their relationship after he snubbed her at the Emmys

Keri Russell has revealed why she refuses to marry her long-term partner Matthew Rhys, claiming that the institution is 'antiquated' and that she feels no need to change her surname or walk down the aisle to stay with him.

Russell, 50, has been with Welsh actor Rhys, 51, for more than a decade after they fell in love playing a married couple on the spy drama The Americans.

They now share a 10-year-old son, Sam, and help raise Russell's two older children from her first marriage, but have never tied the knot themselves.

'I've had a big party. You know, I get to dress up all the time,' the The Diplomat actress remarked on Chelsea Handler's podcast Dear Chelsea.

'I know for a lot of people, marriage is something different. People used to have to be married to have a credit card. We [women] can have credit cards now.'

She continued: 'I don't need my last name to go away. Like, I'm cool, if you want to be here, be here. If you don't, that's cool too.'

The Daily Mail has contacted a representative for Rhys for comment. 

Russell, who married carpenter Shane Deary in 2007 before they separated in 2013, believes having a child with Rhys is commitment enough.

She said: 'We have kids, so like, that's forever. To me, [marriage is] antiquated.'

In the same interview, Russell addressed the fact Rhys neglected to thank her in either of the acceptance speeches he gave at the Emmy Awards last month. 

He won two acting prizes - one for the sitcom Widow's Bay and one for the miniseries The Beast in Me - but made no mention of Russell during his appearances onstage.

Russell has now clarified that she actively encouraged him to leave her name out because he was anxious about speaking in public.

'I said, take me off your plate. You don't have to thank me. I know you love me,' she told Handler. 'We don't have to thank each other. This is private.'

Last year, Rhys suggested a wedding was still a possibility for the couple, who were first linked months after Russell's separation from her first husband.

Asked why they had never married, he remarked: 'We just haven't gotten around to it. We have spoken about it, but the timing is never quite right. I should be more romantic, really,' via the Independent.

Russell has previously spoken about valuing the independence she has been afforded by the present arrangement she has with Rhys. 

In a profile in The New Yorker last year, she said she preferred keeping their finances separate and declared: 'I enjoy the freedom of it.'

The independence also extends to the amount of time the couple spend under the same roof.

She revealed Rhys is now preparing to work in Britain for five months and described their frequent separations as one of the benefits of their relationship.

Rhys is due to film BBC drama Dragon Slayers in Wales, playing legendary Sunday Times editor Sir Harry Evans, whose wife Tina Brown revitalized Vanity Fair as its editor in the 1980s and later founded the Daily Beast.

Russell said: 'We're in a heavy relationship, but I have this gift. We have this gift of being apart a lot. And that is the way to do it.

'He's getting ready to go to the UK for five months. I mean, he comes back around occasionally. But as hard as it is, the house is mine, the bed is mine, the rules are mine.'

The actress joked that when he is away, she can enforce a 9pm bedtime and keep their shared home tidy and organized.

'You know, it's probably more boring without him, but it's my rules,' she added. 'And then he comes back and everyone's so excited and we're excited. You know, being apart is nice.'

Asked how often they intend to see one another during his stay abroad, she said: 'Ideally, it'd be great to see each other every two weeks. It's probably not going to happen.'

Russell also joked that age had made the prospect of beginning another romance considerably less appealing.

'As we've gotten older, we care about it less and less because we're like, even having sex with someone new sounds like a lot of work.'

Their relationship began in more passionate circumstances on the set of The Americans, in which they played undercover Soviet spies posing as husband and wife.

'We were falling in love and staying up all night and having sex all the time and just wearing disguises,' Russell recalled. 'It was insanity. It was so fun and sneaky and sexy and so good.'

When asked who made the first move, she replied: 'You know, I think I did.'