Grey's Anatomy's Jerrika Hinton reacts to Stephanie's cold move

Warning: This story contains major spoilers from Thursday’s episode of Grey’s Anatomy. Read at your own risk!

Jerrika Hinton did caution Grey’s Anatomy fans that her character Stephanie was unable to separate her personal and professional lives. But who knew Stephanie would take such drastic measures during Thursday’s episode?

After Kyle (Wilmer Valderrama) landed back in the hospital with a new tumor, Stephanie was sidelined and treated like a family member rather than a doctor. The struggle was real, leading the young doc to choose her career over her new relationship and split with Kyle — in a letter — while he was recovering from surgery! That’s about as bad as Sex and the City‘s Post-it! EW caught up with Hinton to get her reaction to Stephanie’s cold move. Read on for her insight.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Stephanie broke up with Kyle in a note! That is so cold!

JERRIKA HINTON: Dude! I had such strong feelings about that. I was talking to somebody a few weeks ago, and the big thing that came out of that was like, “What is this decision that her character makes that caused her to question the writers?” I didn’t question the writers, but I did have a lot of conversation with them about the fact that that is a beyond callous act. Even though I can find justification for it, and I can understand why she did it, but the way she did it was a struggle to integrate into her character.

Will she regret her decision to break up with him?

It’s not about regret; I think it’s about wishing things could be different. For any adult person who has gone through a rough breakup, when you have a situation where you know the breakup needs to happen, that doesn’t mean you’re not sad about it. Gosh, I just feel like she doesn’t regret it. She just wishes so many things about the situation could be different. I don’t think she ever questions why she did it, but she does continue to have feelings for the guy, naturally, because they work well together.

He’s still at the hospital, so how awkward does that make things moving forward?

In [episode] 23, it makes it super awkward. In 23, it makes it a nightmare situation with his family. It goes from almost this combative situation between her and Amelia (Caterina Scorsone) and it catapults past awkward into mortifying, because Stephanie just doesn’t know when to quit. Professionally, that’s a fantastic attribute to have, but when it comes to personal relationships, she’s yet to learn how to navigate nuance. When she believes in something — like a lot of people in that hospital — they fight heartily for it. She starts to do that. She’s fighting that battle by herself.

Grey’s Anatomy airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.