Story that a politician threw acid at me ... a fib; my face was burned because of an accident -- former Miss Sri Lanka, Michelle Reimers

Story that a politician threw acid at me ... a fib; my face was burned because of an accident -- former Miss Sri Lanka, Michelle Reimers

Michelle Reimers who wo Miss Sri Lanka Crown while being a student at HFC Girls' School, Dehiwala while she was 16 years old was a beauty who clinched the crown from among models who vied for the position in the 1990 decade in Sri Lanka. 

Michelle appeared in various commercial
advertisements during that period of newspaper covers even took part in a teledrama as a mermaid. But at the age of 25 years she had to forego all this popularity in the year 1999 as a result of an accident she had to face so soon. Because of this accident her lovely face became disfigured and even though she sought treatment abroad she could not get back her former image. 

Michelle, a mother of one child who by now spends a solitary life says with sadness that the crowd who was around her, is no more with her. A strong rumour went round those days that this accident which changed her life was an act of her lover who incidentally was politically attached. This story was circulated based on the understanding that after she was admitted to hospital her lover too had to take treatment because his arm which also was burned. However, Michelle says that that story is false. 

What she says is that on September 21st 1999 when she was spending the night in a room with her boy friend and after taking some medicine for the wheeze she had indulged in smoking during which time she had fallen asleep. She had awoken from a deep sleep after a short while and then she had realised that her face and hair were in flames. She still assumes that the cause of the fire was that the cigarette which was at the tip of her lips may have fallen. She mentions that when the fire took place her boy friend who was in bed had tried to instantly wipe her face to extinguish the fire and that on that occasion his hand too got burned n the process. 

After this incident she was hospitalised and had even taken treatment from Appolo Hospital but was not successful in regaining the previous beautiful charming image she had. She had to bear up with patience the fact that her lover subsequently turned a blind eye on her as a result. She now has only one daughter who stands as a solace for her loneliness and lives a solitary existence with her 15 year old daughter. The revelation she has made in this respect to a weekend newspaper is as follows:

* Michelle ... who are you now? A person doing what?

   Today Michelle Reimers is a mother who has a daughter 16 years old. So now ... daughter's exam is this year. So I stay at home ... attending to her work. There's no special work that I attend to as such. 

* At one time you were a most beautiful damsel in Sri Lanka ... a most popular model. When reminiscing that past what sort of feelings dawn on you now?

   When looking at the face I had those days and the face that I possess now ... there's a vast difference. I can't tell a lie saying that I am not saddened when I recall that time. I couldn't bear up those days. I may have cried incessantly those days with these eyes of mine. But what to do? I can't get back that image just because I cry. So ... I have made up my mind.

* Did those in your field forget you you so soon?

   Yes ... that's true. None of those who know me have taken interest to call me or find out about me. It's only Gamini Siriwardena who comes to Negombo and looks about my welfare. None of the others cared to see about me. What my mother of course said was that on the first day there was a crowd to fill the hospital. What all of them wanted was to check how much of a damage was caused to my face. Today ... none of them are there.

* Actually Michelle ... where did you go wrong?

   The incident where I went wrong was this accident. It was an incident which took place in 1999. After that incident my whole life took a different turn. Some said that a person connected to politics threw acid at my face.