A stunning Brazilian actress and model has told how she left a strict evangelical church so she could flaunt her body.
Sulla Santos, 29 – who is known for her work on the Joao Kleber Show, a prank TV show on TV network RedeTV! – revealed how her church was so strict that she could not even wear shorts to school PE lessons.
Sulla left the church – run by her pastor uncle – eight years ago.
She told local media: “I consider myself a sex symbol today. Due to so much bullying I suffered, I had never imagined that I could walk into a place and receive so many compliments.
“If I go into a restaurant or go somewhere else, I end up drawing attention. It’s not been long that I’ve realised this and today I feel very good. I consider myself the hottie that people talk about so much.”
But despite leaving the church, which had obliged her to wear skirts below the knee, Sulla said she still believes in God.
She said: “I don’t attend any church because my experience with God shows that it’s not necessary. He is with me every day and has showed me that I don’t need to be sad because of a religion, I don’t need all that sacrifice. My faith continues. When I say that I freed myself, I freed myself to do what I like.
“You can be a person of faith and be hot at the same time. Devout and hot. You can be both.”
Sulla – who was born in Conceicao da Barra and moved with her family to Sao Paulo aged seven – said she was bullied at school for the way she was made to dress by the church.
This took a toll on her mental health, and she suffered regular panic attacks and depressive episodes.
She said: “I felt like I was in a cage. I thought, ‘Why am I here? Because my parents want me to be, not because I want to.’
“I wanted to wear the clothes my friends wore, I wanted to have fun like everyone else, but our religion was so rigid that it didn’t allow us to be friends with the wider world, not least with people of other religions.
“I decided not to be in the church. That was when the pastor asked me, ‘Is there salvation out there?’, and everyone said, ‘No’.
“I’d reached my tether and decided to leave after recovering from depression.
“When I took all my depression medication and threw it away, I said, ‘I’m going to chase my freedom and live.’
“I say that I started living not long ago because now I can do what I want.”
In addition to her TV work, Sulla also does modelling. She currently has nearly 6,000 followers on Instagram, whom she delights with her scantily-clad snaps.
But Sulla doesn’t plan to stop there. She has not ruled out nude modelling or opening a profile on OnlyFans.
She said: “I love exposing myself, I’m not ashamed of anything, I really fight for freedom.
“I take the photos that are asked of me, I don’t care at all. It was a pretty radical change. Everyone says that. I pose a lot in a bikini and I’ll pose naked in a magazine soon.”
