WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been released from prison and left the UK after reaching a plea deal with US authorities - where hefaced espionage charges over the leaking of thousands of classified US intelligence documents.
However, one person has been by his side since his ordeal started nearly 14 years ago - his wife Stella Assange.
The South African-born lawyer first met Julian in 2011 at London's Frontline Club when her friend Jennifer Robinson, WikiLeaks' lawyer, put out a request for help fighting a Swedish arrest warrant.
Stella stood by her husband even after rumours spread that he had had a romance withactressPamela Anderson, who developed a friendship with him in 2014. Pamela visited the Wikileaks founder in exile regularly but dispelled speculation they were romantically involved.
Meanwhile, Stella had an international upbringing with her theatre director mother and urban planner father.
Julian Assange secretly fathered two sons while holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy in London. Pictured: The WikiLeaks founder with son Gabriel
Mother-of-two Stella (pictured in 2022) when she married Julian at Belmarsh prison
South African-born lawyer Stella (right) fell in love with the WikiLeaks founder nine years ago while visiting him to work on a legal bid to halt the extraditions
Pamela Anderson visited Julian at Belmarsh high security prison in London in May 2019
In 2011, an arrest warrant was issued for two separate allegations - one of rape and one of molestation - after Julian visited Sweden for a speaking trip. He was questioned by police in Stockholm at the time and denied the allegationswhich have now been dropped.
Stella's family spent time in Sweden meaning she was a fluent Swedish speaker and able to help defend Julian against the allegations which were rescinded in 2019.
Stella is also a fluent Spanish speaker, a skill which would become equally critical when Julian sought asylum in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London.
She has a degree in law and politics from London's prestigious School of Oriental and African Studies and took her MSc at Oxford where she was a noted scholar.
She became a member of Julian's inner circle in the embassy, officially changing her name from Sara Gonzalez Devant to Stella Morris so she could maintain a lower profile while researching and drafting legal documents for WikiLeaks.
Stella later began a relationship with Julian in 2015 before getting engaged to him in 2017.
They have two children -Gabriel and Max - whowere conceived while their father was hiding out in the Ecuadorian Embassy to avoid extradition to the United States.
Pamela has been a fierce defender of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange since 2014
Stella has stood by her husband. (Pictured: Outside the High Court on the final day of his appeal hearing in February)
Julian gestures from the window of a prison van as he is driven out of Southwark Crown Court in London on May 1, 2019
The wedding in 2022 took place inside Belmarsh, where some of Britain's most notorious criminals, including child murderer Ian Huntley, have served sentences.
After a civil ceremony and a blessing by a Catholic chaplain in the presence of their two young sons - the couple were escorted back into the prison's general visiting hall.
Outside the prison, Julian's supporters gathered for an impromptu wedding reception not attended by the groom.
He was held in Belmarsh prison after the Ecuadorian government withdrew his asylum in 2019, blaming his 'repeated violations' of 'international conventions and daily-life protocols'.
Shortly after this time, he was found guilty of breaching the Bail Act and remanded in custody at the prison.
Stella said on Tuesday after Julian was released from Belmarsh Prison: 'The priority now is for Julian to get healthy again. He's been in a terrible state for five years'
He was sentenced to 50 weeks' imprisonment by Southwark Crown Court and continued to be held on remand after serving the custodial sentence whilst fighting extradition to the US.
Speaking on Tuesday, Stella said she was not sure 24 hours ago that her husband would leave Belmarsh.
However, he boarded a plane at Stansted Airport on Wednesday morning after reaching a plea deal with US authorities which has been formalised.He will plead guilty to an Espionage Act charge of obtaining and disclosing information of national importance.
He will return to his home country of Australia after his plea and sentencing, scheduled for Wednesday morning local time in the Mariana Islands, a US commonwealth in the Western Pacific.
Stella said the couple wanted to start 'this new chapter' following her husband's release from prison.
Asked what the couple plan to do now, she told BBC Radio 4's Today Programme: 'We haven't even had an opportunity to have a long conversation about this and I think we don't even know.
Gabriel, who was conceived when Julian was in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London
The couple's second son Max, who had only seen his dad while he was in Belmarsh prison
'The priority now is for Julian to get healthy again. He's been in a terrible state for five years. To just be in contact with nature, that's what we both desire for now.
'And to have time and privacy and just start this new chapter.'
She added: 'I was having discussions with Julian about his freedom.
'And for me as his wife, and all of our family, the priority has always been that Julian should be able to be free - to regain his freedom.
'And he has been in Belmarsh Prison for over five years in relation to this outrageous case, which is criminalising the publication and disclosure of information that incriminates states.'
She spoke of her love for Julian in 2019, telling the Mail on Sunday: 'I love Julian deeply.
Stella, a fluent Swedish speaker was able to help defend Assange against the Swedish rape and sexual assualt allegations, which were later dropped
Julian did not meet his newest son until May 2020 when Stella was allowed into Belmarsh with both boys
'Over the past five years I have discovered that love makes the most intolerable circ*mstances seem bearable but this is different – I am now terrified I will not see him alive again.
'Julian has been fiercely protective of me and has done his best to shield me from the nightmares of his life.
'I have lived quietly and privately, raising Gabriel and Max on my own and longing for the day we could be together as a family.
'Now I have to speak out because I can see that his life is on the brink.
'Julian's poor physical health puts him at serious risk, like many other vulnerable people, and I don't believe he will survive infection with coronavirus.
'Mentally, I do not think he will survive further enforced isolation either.
Stella has said she wants 'her boys' to 'have their father back' (Pictured: Julian appearing on thebalcony of the Ecuadorian embassy in 2016)
At the time that Gabriel was conceived in 2016, Julian had been inside the Ecuadorian embassy, close to Harrods, for four years and was believed to be under constant surveillance by American security services. Pictured: Julian with Gabriel as a baby
'He is effectively in solitary confinement, in a cell for up for 23 and a half hours a day with no access to us, his family, or the psychiatric help he needs.'
Meanwhile, inAugust 2014, the late fashion designer and activist Vivienne Westwood introduced Pamela and Julian after the actress sought advice from him about her nascent animal charity.
Speaking in 2023 about the regular visits, herecalled drinking mescals 'through the night' with him.
She said: 'He's so passionate about life and about everything. There's just nothing that he says that isn't fascinating.
'So there was definitely a connection. We would just talk through the night and drink mezcal and laugh and tell stories.'
Stella spoke to protesters outside of court in February, having previously warned her husband 'will die' if he is extradited to America
Max and Gabriel are pictured with her sons at a hotel in London, ahead of their wedding in 2022
Julian had been locked in a lengthy legal battle in the UK over his extradition, which saw him enter and live in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London in 2012 before his detention in Belmarsh prison.
In a January 2021 ruling, then-district judge Vanessa Baraitser said he should not be sent to the US, citing a real and 'oppressive' risk of suicide, while ruling against him on all other issues.
Later that year, US authorities won a High Court bid to overturn this block, paving the way towards Julian's extradition.
Julian was due to bring his own challenge to the High Court in London in early July after he was recently given the go-ahead to challenge the original judge's dismissal of parts of his case.
Julian has been in custody at HMP Belmarsh for more than five years, fighting his lengthy legal battle against extradition to the United States.
