At 49, Keri Russell still carries the legacy of Felicity like it premiered yesterday. When it debuted in 1998, you probably remember exactly where you were when Felicity cut those curls and sparked national debate. Twenty-eight years later, in 2026, she’s fielding the same hair questions. Different era, same obsession.
Russell told People she and her friends keep circling one topic: “It’s something my girlfriends and I talk about all the time. Plastic surgery is having such a moment right now — men, women, 20-year-olds. I mean, it is around,” she said. She didn’t mention any names, but, honestly, she didn’t need to. “We’re inundated with these movie stars,” she explained. “Even though they might be 50 or 60 years old, they look amazing.”
Talking about seeing herself on The Diplomat, she said, “I watch this show and I’m like, I do not look like that, you know. I like the way I look on the show, and it’s amazing that I feel like that’s strange, like that’s a unique thing to look like that, but it is.”
Russell, whose been in the public eye since her days on The Mickey Mouse Club (alongside Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, and Ryan Gosling), knows what it’s like when strangers treat your appearance like public property. During Felicity’s run from 1998 to 2002, she cut her long curls and made the news. In a July chat on Imagine Entertainment’s Instagram, she recalled JJ Abrams pitching the storyline: “We have this idea that the boyfriend breaks up with you, and then, like college girls do… you go and cut your hair. Would you be willing to do that?’ I said, ‘Yeah, of course.’ And so we did it, and there was this crazy backlash.” Later, she added, “I did not expect all the hysteria,” and, worse, “Strangers did come up to me on the street and say things like, ‘You were so pretty before you cut your hair.’”
“That long hair is how I was identified. So, it was nice to be out of that,” she told W in 2017.
On The Diplomat Season 3, the show even winked at it. Kate fires off, “It’s not like I don’t wash it. I do. And I comb it,” then follows with, “It’s a style. That style is: not looking like you spend hours [doing your hair], because some people have more important things to do. It’s not: couldn’t get the top up on the convertible.”
Russell also told People, “It’s such a weird thing being a woman,” because “Everyone has an opinion about the way you look, the way you dress, the way your hair is. It’s just the nature of our society.”
From Felicity to The Americans, and even big franchises like Mission: Impossible and Planet of the Apes, Keri Russell looks pretty much the same. Off camera, she’s built a quiet life too: she’s been with The Americans co-star Matthew Rhys, 50, since 2014, and they share a son, Sam. She’s also mom to River and Willa with ex-husband Shane Deary.
When talking about her career, the actress remains modest. “I haven’t had some great plan. … I’ve been incredibly lucky and had some really good opportunities and experiences. There’s no rhyme or reason,” she told Variety in 2017.
Her hair might have grown since then, but she still looks like the same Felicity from the ’90s.
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