Sandra Oh is opening up about her “Grey’s Anatomy” exit ― and why she was so privileged her departure went the way it went. “When it came to the end of Season 8 or 9, [creator Shonda Rhimes] took me aside, because we were all renegotiating,” Oh said during an appearance on Jesse Tyler Ferguson’s “Dinner’s On Me” podcast released this week. “She goes, ‘What do you wanna do?’ and I said, ‘Let me think about it,’” Oh said. “I created a whole character,” Oh said of her role as Cristina Yang. “I feel I grew the character over 10 years’ time, where it’s a believable growth. People do grow in 10 years, and I think she really did grow.” Oh also spoke about the “extremely rare” gift she got in being able to have some control over her exit. Ellen Pompeo and Sandra Oh pictured together during their time on “Grey’s Anatomy.” Vivian Zink via Getty Images“The privilege was to actually plan an exit and all the writers to be able to plan and to support that,” the actor said. “I know that it’s extremely rare to have. That was a real gift.” “I was really very fortunate,” she added. “You build the relationships, hopefully, or the circumstances to happen.”Others on the show have approached their departure differently, as Ellen Pompeo publicly called for her own exit ― and for the show to end ― many times over the years. “I’ve been trying to focus on convincing everybody that it should end,” Pompeo told Insider back in 2021. “I feel like I’m the super naive one who keeps saying, ‘But what’s the story going to be, what story are we going to tell?’” she continued. “And everyone’s like, ‘Who cares, Ellen? It makes a gazillion dollars.’”Pompeo did eventually leave the show in 2022 after 19 seasons.