Shonda Rhimes turned tragedy—and life circumstances—into triumph.

The television icon revealed that she started writing Grey’s Anatomy in 2002 after being dissatisfied with the offerings on TV at the time and deciding to take matters into her own hands.

“9/11 had happened,” Shonda explained on the March 10 episode of Serena Williams and Venus Williams’ Stockton Street podcast. “And I said to myself, ‘If my life ended tomorrow, what will I regret having not done?’ And the answer was be a mom.”

“So nine months and two days after 9/11, my daughter was born,” the 56-year-old continued, referring to her eldest child, Harper, 23. “I adopted a daughter and it was amazing.”

“But it also meant that I never left the house again,” she added. “You know, you have a baby, you don’t want to go anywhere. You want to be at home.”

Though Shonda expected her lifestyle to change as a mom, she certainly did not expect her career path to take such a drastic turn.