Popular actress Pitchanart "May" Sakhakorn saddened fans when she announced on Thursday that she is breaking up with rising football star Chanathip Songkrasin.

"I have felt uneasy with the situation for over 10 days. I haven't been able to come to terms with it yet. And I don't think I will be able to. I'm going to suffer depression. Our love has come to a dead-end," Pitchanart wrote on her Instagram account.

She was last seen with Chanathip, who plays for the national team, at a Jan 7 farewell party the Football Association of Thailand threw for him and two other footballers before they left to play abroad. He joined Consadole Sapporo in Japan.

According to Pitchanart, she and Chanathip loved each other very much and planned to get married.

Chanathip's parents had asked them to put off the wedding until the construction of his family's football field in Nakhon Pathom, costing 30 million baht, is finished and for his ordination.

Both conditions had been met, but his mother then said the next auspicious moment for their marriage was not for another three years. She also did not think they could live together happily because both were born in the Year of the Rooster and would always fight each other.

Both had burst into tears. Chanathip had then told her to wait as he tried to find a solution, but she did not want him to be in conflict with his parents, Pitchanart said.

However, some have called this account into question, with many pointing to the couple's age-gap. Pitchanart is 36 and Chanathip is 24.

Chanathip's father, 53-year-old Kongphop Songkrasin, told the media on Thursday he was shocked by the actress's announcement. He said he believed that it was prompted by his family's request they wait for another two years because Chanathip was still building his future.

Pichanart seemed to want to get married this year, he said.

The two met when they appeared as guests on the same TV show in 2015. They announced their relationship the following year.