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Fact Check
Prof. Maithree Wickremesinghe, wife of former President Ranil Wickremesinghe, spoke about her cancer condition for the first time only after her husband’s arrest on Friday, 22 August 2025.
Missing context. Prof. Wickremesinghe had opened up about her fight with cancer and treatment in 2023, well before her husband’s arrest.
Social media users are claiming that Prof. Maithree Wickremesinghe, wife of former President Ranil Wickremesinghe, spoke about her cancer condition for the first time only after her husband’s arrest on Friday, 22 August 2025. Here’s one such instance of the viral claim on TikTok.
Watch the speech on YouTube
Read the interview in The Sunday Times
From both these accounts, we understand that Prof. Wickremesinghe has been open about her health condition since 2023.
The viral claim gained traction after reports emerged that Ranil Wickremesinghe’s bail application referenced his wife’s illness, where he claimed his wife was suffering from stage 4 breast cancer and needed his care and attention. Users who shared the claim, alleged that Prof Maithree Wickremesinghe was speaking publicly about cancer for the first time only after his arrest, thereby casting aspersions on the timing and intent of her revelation.
The claim that Prof. Maithree Wickremesinghe revealed her cancer diagnosis for the first time only after her husband’s arrest is not true. She has been vocal about her diagnosis since October 2023 at both a public event and in a national newspaper interview.
At a glance
Q1. Did Prof. Maithree Wickremesinghe reveal her cancer only after Ranil’s arrest?
No. She first spoke publicly about her diagnosis in October 2023, almost a year earlier.
Q2. Where did she first disclose her cancer diagnosis?
At a breast cancer awareness symposium on 14 October 2023 in Sri Lanka, and in a Sunday Times interview on 15 October 2023.
Q3. What type of cancer does she have?
She revealed that she is battling stage 4 breast cancer.
Q4. Why did the claim go viral recently?
Because Ranil Wickremesinghe’s bail application mentioned her illness, sparking social media speculation.
Our Sources
‘‘I was one of the cancer ‘cases’ of 2020’’, by Kumudini Hettiarachchi and Prof. Maithree Wickremesinghe, in The Sunday Times, published on October 15, 2023
“Battling a Killer: Breast Cancer Awareness Month – Prof. Maithree Wickremesinghe on prevention”, YouTube channel of NewsFirst Sri Lanka, posted on October 14, 2023
Missing context
