Dil Wickremasinghe

Dil Wickremasinghe
Born1973 (age 52–53)
Rome,[1] Italy
OccupationBroadcaster
PartnerAnne Marie Toole
Websitehttp://www.dilw.ie/

Dil Wickremasinghe is a broadcaster and journalist living in Ireland. She was a radio presenter with Newstalk and is a panellist on TV3's Midday programme.[1] She has also done stand-up comedy.[2]

Biography

Born in Rome to Sri Lankan parents, who rejected her at the age of 17 after she told them she was gay and she became homeless as a result.[1][3] Her mother, a Jehovah's Witness, attempted to "cure" her of her lesbianism after she fell in love with a girl.[1] She is also a survivor of sexual abuse.[4] While in Sri Lanka, she had a job on the radio but was dismissed in a dispute over her sexual orientation.[1][5] As well as Italy and Sri Lanka, she lived for a time in Bahrain. She moved to Ireland in 2000.[1]

She later experienced depression and received counselling from One in Four (the charity founded by Colm O'Gorman).[1] She first met her partner, the psychotherapist Anne Marie Toole, when they shared a room at a weekend mental health conference in Wicklow.[1] They started dating one month later.[1]

On 4 February 2014, she received the Lord Mayor of Dublin's Frederick Douglass Award.[4][6]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Smith, Andrea (16 March 2015). "Newstalk presenter Dil Wickremasinghe and her partner Anne Marie Toole on the joy of their first baby". Sunday Independent.
  2. ^ McManus, D. (11 August 2013). "Dil's playful personality makes hardline topics easy listening". Sunday Independent.
  3. ^ Wickremasinghe, Dil (17 February 2015). "An octogenarian gentleman taught me that it's never too late to come out". TheJournal.ie. Retrieved 1 December 2025.
  4. ^ a b Kennedy, Jason (28 November 2014). "'I'm walking on air': Gay Newstalk presenter on her pregnancy". Irish Independent.
  5. ^ "The Iona Institute's David Quinn has crossed the line of decency". 3 March 2015. Archived from the original on 16 May 2015.
  6. ^ "Newstalk's Dil Wickremasinghe receives Frederick Douglass Award". 5 February 2014. Archived from the original on 16 May 2015.
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