Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-1962215-20140317132636/@comment-24769579-20140409025835

Utter solitude wrote: WinterWoodsGal wrote:

At least she wasn't just like 'I took out my heart and I don't care' she was more like 'love is something I can't afford so I'm afraid to get what I want I need to take out my heart' I absolutely loved that. She had a true, deep motive for it. She knew it would have held her back, and her ambition was so strong she was willing to give it up.

And she did it before she had Regina, which means she didn't decide to stop loving her daughter, she simply had already taken out her heart, and to quote Will 'got used to the emptiness'