Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-27885419-20161015152013/@comment-26967699-20161015164307

Regina knows and accepts her time when she was the Evil Queen. That's why she opened herself to Emma, said that it's her fate to be villain and nothing will be good and enough for her. The reason she is talking about the Evil Queen as a different person is just not to feel bad about it and not to remember what she had done over the years. Just like Snow did at the end of 6.01: "You-- I mean the Evil Queen was trying to kill me". There are multiple and better ways to make someone feel good and make yourself feel good.