Actress Zaira Wasim, 18, of Srinagar, Indian Occupied Kashmir, has announced she will quit acting following her relationship with her religion.

She rose to fame in 2016, when she starred in Dangal, one of Bollywood’s highest grossing films. She announced that she is bidding adieu to her career in Bollywood as it is interfering with her religion and faith.

In a lengthy Facebook post on Sunday, she wrote, “This journey has been exhausting, to battle my soul for so long”.

The post has since gone viral, attracting thousands of comments and likes.

“As I had just started to explore and make sense of the things to which I dedicated my time, efforts and emotions and tried to grab hold of a new lifestyle, it was only for me to realise that though I may fit here perfectly, I do not belong here,” she wrote.

“This field indeed brought a lot of love, support, and applause my way, but what it also did was to lead me to a path of ignorance, as I silently and unconsciously transitioned out of imaan [faith]. While I continued to work in an environment that consistently interfered with my imaan [faith], my relationship with my religion was threatened.”

She added that the career often put her in a “vulnerable” position: “It was always so easy to succumb to the environment that damaged my peace, imaan [faith] and my relationship with Allah.”