Keri Russell Still Sees Justin Timberlake as a Little Kid

Both are Mickey Mouse Club alumni

By Francesca Bacardi Feb 28, 2017 4:45 PMTags
Keri Russell, Justin TimberlakeJeff Kravitz/FilmMagic, Inc

Keri Russell is proud of Justin Timberlake.

The Americans actress and "Can't Stop the Feeling" crooner participated in the Mickey Mouse Club together, but given their age difference, Russell always saw J.T. as a little kid. While appearing on The Tonight Show Monday, Keri admitted that her perspective hasn't changed much.

During a new game of "Fallon Five," Keri told host Jimmy Fallon about her friend and fellow Mickey Mouse Club member and the texting conversation they had during Justin's Oscars performance. "'Are you watching this? He's good!'" Keri recalled her friend texting her.

Fallon was taken by surprised by how captivated they were by his performance, which of course brought down the Dolby Theatre, but then she reminded the late-night host that she knew Justin when he was just a youngin'.

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"They were like 12 when we were 17, so we were like, 'You know what? He's good! You know what I think he'll be OK,'" she said. "He was like a little kid, but how fun was that number."

Justin opened the ceremony with a mash-up of his Trolls song and Bill Withers' 1977 track "Lovely Day." While stepping into the audience during his set, Justin briefly came face-to-face with Ryan Gosling, his fellow The All New Mickey Mouse Club member, or Mouseketeer, and put his hand on his shoulder. Later in the show, Justin walked over to Ryan and shook his hand. 

Little did viewers know that not only would there be a Mouseketeer reunion on TV but somewhere else there would be two other former alumni keeping tabs on their old colleagues.

(E! and NBC are both part of the NBCUniversal family.)