A Facebook etiquette question

I feel like a cad. I really do. Last week, or maybe two weeks ago I sat down with my now unwieldy Facebook list (400+ "friends") and decided to delete some of them. I did this for a couple of reasons 1) the size of the list was making me nervous and 2) most of them only friended me because I used to be a publicist (nearly FOUR years ago) and they are under some misapprehension that I wield some kind of power in Hollywood -- I don't. So I attacked the list with a knife. Yesterday I get the saddest message ever from someone I cut asking why I did it and had she offended me and that she was so hurt by it. Is this a modern 2008 problem, or what? What to do? Please respond. I know that you are a shy lot (the comments are scant and usually from spammers) but this time I really need your help!