Fans are still mourning the loss of Lexie Grey from the season 8 finale, and now they are having to deal Mark Sloan leaving the show. Shonda Rhimes, executive producer for Grey’s Anatomy, is now defending the end of their story lines. Warning: Spoiler Alert!!

Naturally when beloved characters die there is always backlash. As is the case of Lexie Grey and Mark Sloan from Grey’s Anatomy. Shonda Rhimes hasn’t had much to say about the ways in which she decided to end their stories until today. One thing is clear, she didn’t take the responsibility lightly. Rhimes states that killing off Lexie haunts her and that she couldn’t imagine the show without her. So why did she decide to kill her off the show? It was important that Lexie’s exit had the maximum impact, Rhimes explains. She also reveals that when she wrote the season finale at first she wasn’t even sure who was going to die because they were still in the middle of contract negotiations. But once she knew Chyler Leigh wasn’t retuning for season 9, she decided Lexie had to die in the plane crash. Because the alternative was having her die at Seattle Grace with a simple head injury. Which Rhimes couldn’t allow because she believes, “She would have died without Mark at her side. Without the chance to say goodbye to him. Without the chance to hear that he loved her. I wanted them together when she left us.”

Of course who could forget Sloan’s final goodbye to Lexie?

As for the death of Mark Sloan, which we saw last night on 9×01 “Going Going Gone”, Rhimes said this death was the most tragic to her. As one of the originals on the show Rhimes says that he is part of the fabric that makes it. Rhimes didn’t want Sloan to die because she was so attached to him but says that, “any option that didn’t include him dying required him to a) grieve for Lexie indefinitely and b) willingly walk away from his daughter.” However, these options just weren’t in Sloan’s character. Rhimes couldn’t see him willingly leave his daughter or his best friend Callie in their greatest time of need with Arizona’s leg amputated. In a final comment on her decision Rhimes states, “So…I fought it and I debated it and tossed and turned about it but in the end, I had to do what was right for the integrity of the character. Mark would never abandon willingly Sofia and he would never willingly abandon Callie. So Mark dies. And he and Lexie get to be together in a way. Their love remains true.”

Read Rhimes entire Who Say entry on Lexie and Mark.

Are you satisfied with these explanations?