Keri Russell has revealed that she never married Matthew Rhys because she thinks having kids together already makes the relationship permanent. The pair met on the set of The Americans, where they played a married couple, and they have been together for over a decade. Their onscreen marriage was a spy cover, and the real relationship has never needed paperwork. Hollywood has wondered for years, and Russell answered with humor.

While most couples chase a ring and a cake, Russell follows a simple logic that involves kids and credit cards.

Keri Russell simply considers marriage antiquated and feels no need to walk down an aisle. The 50-year-old and Matthew Rhys, 51, share a 10-year-old son, Sam Rhys.

“I know for a lot of people, marriage is something different,” Russell said on Chelsea Handler’s podcast Dear Chelsea.

She then added, “We have kids, so like, that’s forever. To me, [marriage is] antiquated.”

On Dear Chelsea, Russell also pointed out that women once needed a husband to get a credit card, a problem that has since been solved. She sees no reason to give up her last name. Rhys offered a gentler version last year, saying the timing was never right and that he should be more romantic. Together, they also raise two older children from her 2007 marriage to Shane Deary.

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While the couple skipped wedding vows, Emmy night also skipped a very expected thank you, and Russell has the receipts.

Matthew Rhys won two Emmys in one night, for Widow’s Bay and The Beast in Me, yet neither acceptance speech mentioned Keri Russell. Rhys took plenty of grief for it. Russell cleared it up on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon by revealing that the omission was her own idea. She had asked Rhys to remove her from his thank-you list because he was nervous about forgetting someone or saying the wrong thing.

The couple had agreed days before the ceremony that neither would thank the other if they won. Russell also told Handler that Rhys still hears complaints from people he forgot to thank after his Emmy win for The Americans, so the pressure is real. Rhys later told E! News that her gesture was classy and hoped she would win an Emmy soon. Russell treats a wedding the same way she treats a thank-you speech: forever does not need an announcement.

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What are your thoughts on Keri Russell skipping marriage and thank-yous? Let us know in the comments.