Left Pakistan, wanted to quit acting: Mawra Hocane on social media negativity

Pakistan’s famed actress Mawra Hocane did not shy away from the fact that negativity on social media almost had her quit her career. 

In an interview with Mira Sethi, the Sabaat star became candid and said that trolls and critics did not fail to spare her whenever she had a slip of tongue.

"I am getting used to it now, but six years ago it was very difficult. Like, if I am giving an interview right now, it is possible that I may say something wrong. But I realised five years ago that anything wrong that comes out of your mouth is no longer wrong when it reaches social media, it becomes a sin," she said.

The Sanam Teri Kasam star revealed that the negativity got so bad that she fled to Sydney and told her parents that she could no longer bear the burden of being on the spotlight.

"You can't even think about making a mistake, because you have been placed on a pedestal where you can’t say anything wrong. So the first time this hit me I was like, I want to stop using it. I want to stop acting and I just want to leave. And I actually went to Sydney and told my parents 'I don’t want to do this anymore,'" she said.

She explained that because she entered stardom at a time when her mind was fragile, she was not able to differentiate between constructive criticism and the noise.

Mawra also recalled the time when she received death threats just because of her tongue slipping.

"I told my parents people here want to kill me because I said something wrong. And even today I don’t want to defend myself, I am scared of it. I say 'you know what? I am wrong! But are you really going to take my life for it?'"

When asked if the Jawani Phir Nahi Aani 2 actor was still afraid she said that the "fear has never left".