Julian Assange’s fiancee has lifted the lid on how she managed to have two children with the WikiLeaks founder while he was holed up inside the Ecuadorian embassy in London.
South African-born lawyer Stella Morris, 37, fell in love with Assange, 48, in 2015 while visiting him to work on a legal bid to halt his extradition to the U.S.
Assange faces espionage charges over the leaking of hundreds of thousands of classified U.S. intelligence documents.
Gabriel, three, and his brother Max, one, were conceived while Assange was hiding out in the Ecuadorian embassy, where he was granted political asylum in 2012 until last April when he was dragged out and taken to prison.
Ms Morris said she felt ‘fortunate’ to have met Assange, who ‘had changed the world with Wikileaks’.
South African-born lawyer Stella Morris, 37, fell in love with Assange, 48, in 2015 while visiting him to work on a legal bid to halt his extradition to America
South African-born lawyer Stella Morris (right) fell in love with the controversial WikiLeaks founder five years ago while visiting him to work on a legal bid to halt the extraditions. The couple have been engaged since 2017
Ms Morris revealed she and Assange recruited their friend, British actor Stephen Hu, to pose as the children’s father so as to not arouse suspicion. Pictured: Mr Hu with Gabriel entering the embassy
‘We grew closer and became friends and watched movies together and I just loved spending time with him. It was very romantic and cautious and very sweet,’ she told 60 Minutes on Sunday night.
‘It wasn’t easy but when you’re with someone you love you can make impossible situations possible.’
When Gabriel was conceived in 2016, Assange had been inside the embassy for four years and was thought to be under constant surveillance by American security services.
But Ms Morris said she and Assange – who became engaged in 2017 – conceived both their sons in rooms of the embassy that didn’t have CCTV cameras.
‘Julian had private spaces, his bedroom and office had no cameras,’ she said.
Julian Assange secretly fathered two sons while holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, The Mail on Sunday can reveal. Pictured: The WikiLeaks founder with first son Gabriel
‘But when I got pregnant the first time there were microphones everywhere, so I had to write it down on a piece of paper to tell him.
‘We loved each other, and we wanted to start a family. All these other circumstances would change but that was a certainty. I got pregnant and we were over the moon,’ she said.
Ms Morris was able to hide both her pregnancies from authorities and the media, who still weren’t privy to any romantic relationship between the pair.
‘I just piled on layers [of clothes] and complained about getting fat to hide it,’ she said.
At the time, Assange was also wanted in Sweden where he was accused of rape. He has always denied the sex allegations, which have now been dropped.
In another revelation, Ms Morris revealed she and Assange recruited their friend, British actor Stephen Hu, to pose as the childrens’ father to avoid suspicion.
Mr Hue would regularly bring Gabriel and Max to the embassy to visit Assange where they would keep up the ruse the actor was the toddlers’ father.
Ms Morris was also careful to never arrive to the consulate at the same time as Mr Hu.
‘It was mainly a security concern and that’s why we went to extreme measures of trying to not expose my pregnancy. You don’t take these steps lightly,’ she said.
‘[We brought in] Gabriel to the embassy with Stephen who would pose as the father just so Julian would be able to see his son regularly.’
But security staff were still skeptical of Mr Hu, prompting an investigation and the creation of a dossier of their findings.
The mother-of-two also claimed a security company working for the CIA in the embassy had plans to steal Gabriel’s nappy for DNA testing to prove Assange’s paternity.
‘They had instructions to steal Gabriel’s nappy in order to establish that Julian was the father in a bid to hurt Julian,’ she said.
Ms Morris was tipped off by whistleblowers who worked for the company of the plan to run DNA tests on the toddler’s nappy and dummy.
Ms Morris said she has been living in ‘a permanent state of fear for years’ following the incident.
Julian Assange pictured as he is led out of the Ecuadorian Embassy in London in handcuffs following his sensational arrest by British police in April 2019
Assange is currently being held at Belmarsh prison (pictured above) which has housed some of the UK’s most notorious prisoners
‘The real issue was I thought that our family would be targeted by the same people that were trying to harm Julian,’ she said.
It’s alleged that recordings of Assange’s conversations with his doctors and lawyers were sent back to U.S. authorities to strengthen their extradition case.
According to the security firm whistleblowers, there were plots to forcibly remove Assange from the embassy and poison him.
‘I think it’s hard for people to understand that such lawlessness is possible,’ Ms Morris said.
‘There’s incredible criminality that has been going on in order to gather information about Julian’s lawyers, and his family, and journalists who were visiting him.
‘I’ve been in a permanent state of fear for years and now it’s slowly playing out.’
Ms Morris also addressed her fiance’s unexpected friendship with actress-turned-activist Pamela Anderson, who visited Assange at the embassy several times.
‘Julian and her were good friends and shes been an incredible advocate for him and for that I’m very grateful,’ Ms Morris said.
Assange failed to appear via video link for his most recent court matter in London’s Westminster Magistrates’ Court earlier this month. Pictured: Assange arriving at court last year
Ms Morris pleaded for Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison to step in and help free Assange – who was born in Townsville – from Belmarsh maximum security prison in London.
Assange has been at the notoriously tough jail since April last year, after he was dragged out of the Ecuadorian Embassy in London following seven years of political asylum granted.
‘I’d like to ask Scott Morrison to do everything he can to get Julian back to his family,’ Ms Morris said.
‘If Australia doesn’t step in I’m very fearful this wrong won’t be righted. It’s a nightmare.
‘He’s very unwell and I’m very concerned about his ability to survive this. He’s not a criminal. He’s not a dangerous person. He’s a gentle intellectual, a thinker.’
She said Assange was being kept alone in a tiny room for 23 hours of the day and was ‘very depressed’.
Ms Morris said she fears her children will have to grow up without a father if he is extradited and sentenced in the U.S.
‘I want people to understand that we’re being punished as a family. It’s not just Julian in the prison. The kids are being deprived of their father. I need Julian and he needs me,’ she said.
Ms Morris is currently living with extended family in London.
Assange is accused of publishing thousands of secret US diplomatic and military files, some of which revealed alleged war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan. Pictured on the balcony of the Ecuadorian embassy in west London on December 20, 2012
She is being supported by Assange’s mother Christine Assange and his father John Shipton, who are both delighted by their grandchildren.
Mrs Assange has described them as ‘bringing joy and light to our darkest hours’.
Assange failed to appear via video link for his most recent court matter in London’s Westminster Magistrates’ Court earlier this month.
His defence team had emailed court that their client had ‘had respiratory problems for some time’, the court heard.
WikiLeaks confirmed Assange had been advised against going to the video conferencing room in Belmarsh prison by his doctors and was at high risk of contracting COVID-19 due to an underlying lung condition.
Assange is next scheduled to appear in court on June 29 for a routine call over.
Assange is accused of publishing thousands of secret US diplomatic and military files, some of which revealed alleged war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The charges carry a total of 175 years’ imprisonment.
For the past decade, Assange’s legal, political and diplomatic imbroglio has dominated international headlines.