Chyler Leigh

More than a month after we lost Lexie on the chilling Grey's Anatomy season finale, it still hurts to think about helpless Little Grey trapped under the wreckage of a downed plane as she struggled to breathe through bloodied teeth. Well, Lexie's portrayer, the always lovely Chyler Leigh, is happy to remind us, "I'm alive." Here, for the first time since she released a brief statement explaining her reasons for leaving the series [we agreed not to get back into that], Leigh opens up about her last moments on set, what's next and being honored by an organization helping to bring water to the world's thirstiest.

TV Guide Magazine: Chyler! How are you? Leigh: I'm good. If I cough, I'm sorry. I'm kind of getting overa little cold.

TV Guide Magazine: Well, you're in much better shape than the last time we saw you on TV. Leigh: [Laughs] For sure.

TV Guide Magazine: I first have to tell you, as hard as it was to lose you, your death scene was brilliantly acted. Leigh: Aww. Thank you. I wasn't really dying though. That was quite an experience. I haunted a lot of people.

TV Guide Magazine: We'll talk more about that. In the meantime, what have you been up to? Leigh: Life. A whole lot of life and I am so grateful that I get to be home with my kids who are three beautiful, complicated, dynamic children. I have a lot of life to live.

TV Guide Magazine: You also had a movie out that Justin Chambers [Alex] was originally slated to be in. Leigh: Yes, Justin wasn't available [because of his Grey's shooting schedule] but we still made the movie called Brake with Stephen Dorff as the main character. I played his wife. It came out in March. A really incredible little movie.

TV Guide Magazine: So what's next? Leigh: A few things. My husband [actor Nathan West] and I write. There's a musical thing and a children's book we're in the process of. It's still all very much in the developmental stage.

TV Guide Magazine: Why is a children's book something you wanted to do? Leigh: We read books to our kids every night and my husband is such an amazing storyteller. He has them rolling with laughter. So we had some pretty profound ideas come up.

TV Guide Magazine: You and Nathan are being honored next week with the Pioneering Spirit Award by an organization called the Thirst Project. What's this all about? Leigh: The Thirst Project is a phenomenal organization [about] the water crisis. Almost one billion people on our planet don't have access to any clean drinking water. 4400 kids die every single day from diseases caused by contaminated water. And eighty percent of all global diseases are water-born. It's ridiculous. My eight-year-old son will complain about having to drink a cup of water and I'll show him a video to watch. The Thirst Project has been able to build wells in several developing countries all around the globe and teach the people in the villages how to maintain them so they have clean water for life. Clean water has been brought to over 100,000 people over the world in just four short years. For my husband and I to be able to put our names out there, we're able to be a part of it. We were also able to finance a well in Swaziland that's making an impact.

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Keck's Exclusives: Grey's Anatomy's Chyler Leigh Speaks About Lexie's Heartbreaking Death