WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange proposed to his wife using a VR headset - after the pair met while she was working on his legal team.
Stella Assange confirmed her husband was on his way to enter a plea deal with the U.S. government that would free him and resolve the legal case that spanned years and continents over the publication of a trove of classified documents.
A chartered flight VJT199 from London’s Stansted Airport landed afternoon at Bangkok’s Don Mueang International Airport, which Assange’s wife, Stella, confirmed was carrying her husband.
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Stella told the BBC from Australia that it had been “touch and go” over the past 72 hours whether the deal would go ahead but she felt “elated” at the news. A lawyer who married the WikiLeaks founder in prison in 2022, she said details of the agreement would be made public once the judge had signed off on it.
She said she will seek a pardon for her husband after he agreed to plead guilty to violating U.S. espionage law.
But how did the pair meet?
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Who is Stella Assange?
The 40-year-old, who holds Spanish and Swedish nationality, has lived in London for nearly 20 years and was a member of Assange's legal team. She was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, and lived in Botswana, Lesotho, Sweden and Spain before going to university in the UK.
She completed a degree in law and politics at SOAS in London, an MSc at Oxford in refugee law, and a master’s in Madrid in public international law. A year after completing a leadership course in Canada she went to work with Assange's legal team.
Where did they get married?
Despite being imprisoned in HMP Belmarsh, a high-security prison in the UK, Assange was able to marry Stella after he was granted permission.
He had been held at the prison since 2019 after the US launched legal action to extradite him to facial trial on espionage charges.
Stella made an emotional speech to a crowd outside the prison in her wedding dress, saying she said: “I’m very happy but I’m very sad … I wish he were here … What we’re going through is inhuman.
"He’s the most amazing person in the world and he should be free. But our love will carry us through.” The couple were allowed six guests, including Assange's two brothers and his dad.
Moris described the wedding venue as “the most oppressive high-security prison in the country.”
How did Assange propose?
It is reported Assange proposed to Stella when she was pregnant with their first child using a virtual reality headset.
She told The Times: “He gave me a VR [virtual reality] headset and told me there was a surprise inside for me.
"I found myself walking through this virtual world. There was a house and then a beach with balloons and stuff.
“And then Julian said ‘look up’ and there was this massive ‘Will you marry me?’ written in the sky.”
How many children do they have?
The pair have two sons who were present at the wedding. Gabriel, who was born in 2017, and Max who was born in February 2019. The couple had the children while Assange was in the Ecuadorian embassy in London seeking asylum to avoid extradition to Sweden.
What does Stella think of her husband's release?
Assange left the UK after agreeing on a US plea deal that would see him plead guilty to criminal charges and be freed. Stella, who told the BBC their children have never seen their father outside prison, said she was "elated" with the plea deal.
"I mean, I'm just elated," she said. "Frankly, it's just incredible. It feels like it's not real. We weren't really sure until the last 24 hours that it was actually happening."
She added that Julian will be a "free man" once the plea deal is signed. "The important thing here is that the deal involved time served - that if he signed it, he would be able to walk free. He will be a free man once it has been signed off by a judge and that will happen some time tomorrow."
Stella added she would seek a pardon for her husband because the acceptance of guilt on an espionage charge was a "very serious concern" for journalists around the world.
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