Matthew Rhys Girlfriend Keri Russell Defends ‘Americans’ TV Show Socialist Parenting [SPOILERS NEWS]
Keri Russell's character on FX' The Americans couldn't be more different that the real-life single mom, except for the way they feel about their kids. In Season 3 of the hit TV show about Soviet spies living in 1980s America, secret agent Elizabeth Jennings is determined to recruit her daughter, Paige, in to the KGB despite the objections of her husband, played by real life boyfriend Matthew Rhys. In a recent interview the Rhys' girlfriend explained that Elizabeth may be a killer, but she is a mother first. And as a socialist mother, she doesn't want to lose her daughter's heart and mind to the decadent West.
This year Kerri Russell's character on FX' Cold War action epic, The Americans, is looking to turn her espionage act with her Russian husband, played by Welshman, Matthew Rhys, into a true family affair by recruiting their all-American daughter, played by 17-year-old Holly Taylor, into the mix.
During a live Q&A January 18, for the Television Critics Association press tour, Keri explained that Elizabeth was determined to recruit her own daughter to spy for the KGB because she a was good mother and not some terrible monster (via Just Jared):
"I don't look at it like I'm recruiting this teenager to do what I do and turn tricks for strangers.
"She's this mother watching a daughter being indoctrinated by someone else.
"If she's going to be indoctrinated by someone, it's going to be me.
"She wants it to be important and about socialism."
While Keri doesn't having any problem admitting that from the outside it can sometimes look like Elizabeth is being a heavy handed or cold, it's in Jennings' parenting that Keri seems to most see herself.
Russell told Fox News that regardless of how different she was in almost every single way from her Americans character, they both love their children more than anything else in their lives:
"Elizabeth is not always the best mom, which I love playing.
"I hope I'm a warmer mom than Elizabeth. It's just different, though.
"Culturally, she's different than a cozy American mom.
"I don't think she loves her kids any less...She's informed by her life and, I think, she's fiercely protective.
"She loves her children. I just think she shows it in different ways."
Be sure to catch Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys on the Season 3 premiere of The Americans next Wednesday January 28, at 10 p.m.