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Who is Julian Assange’s new wife, Stella Moris? The South African lawyer counts fashion designer Vivienne Westwood among her supporters and has a degree from Oxford

Stella Moris has stuck by WikiLeaks’ founder Julian Assange through thick and thin – now the pair are married. Photos: @corrado.gugliotta/Instagram, Reuters
Stella Moris has stuck by WikiLeaks’ founder Julian Assange through thick and thin – now the pair are married. Photos: @corrado.gugliotta/Instagram, Reuters

  • The truly international lawyer, whose real name is Sara Gonzalez Devant, was born to a Swedish-Cuban father and Spanish mother, and has lived everywhere from Botswana to Lesotho
  • Moris met the WikiLeaks founder in 2011 after being assigned to his legal team and the couple had two sons together, but she kept their father’s identity secret for years

Julian Assange – the WikiLeaks founder and world’s most famous whistle-blower – married his long-term partner Stella Moris on Wednesday, March 23, in a low-key ceremony at London’s high-security Belmarsh prison.
Despite her husband, Julian Assange, being one of the world’s most controversial figures, Stella Moris still has plenty of supporters, including British fashion designer Vivienne Westwood. Photo: Reuters
Despite her husband, Julian Assange, being one of the world’s most controversial figures, Stella Moris still has plenty of supporters, including British fashion designer Vivienne Westwood. Photo: Reuters

“I am very happy and very sad,” she told those gathered outside the prison afterwards. “I love Julian with all my heart, and I wish he were here. He’s the most amazing person in the world, and he should be free.”

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Stella Moris, the new wife of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, arrives at London’s Belmarsh prison before her wedding in March. Photo: Reuters
Stella Moris, the new wife of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, arrives at London’s Belmarsh prison before her wedding in March. Photo: Reuters

Assange has been held at Belmarsh since 2019 as the United States continues to seek his extradition to face trial on more than a dozen counts related to WikiLeaks’ release of confidential military records and diplomatic cables. If extradited, he faces a jail sentence of up to 175 years under the Espionage Act.

So just who is the mother of Assange’s children, and how did she meet him?

She’s a South African citizen of Cuban, Spanish and Swedish descent

Since their meeting in 2011, Stella Moris has fought tirelessly to keep Julian Assange from being extradited to the US where he faces a maximum sentence of 175 years in prison. Photo: AP
Since their meeting in 2011, Stella Moris has fought tirelessly to keep Julian Assange from being extradited to the US where he faces a maximum sentence of 175 years in prison. Photo: AP

Moris’ real name is Sara Gonzalez Devant. She was born in Johannesburg in 1983 and lived in several different countries, including Botswana, Lesotho, Sweden and Spain, before moving to the United Kingdom to pursue a career in human rights.

Her father, a Swede of Cuban heritage, was an architect, while her Spanish mother was a theatre director. They were part of the Medu Art Ensemble, a collective of cultural activists, and played a significant role in the struggle against South Africa’s apartheid policy of racial segregation and violent injustice.

Stella Moris is an accomplished lawyer and the mother of Julian Assange’s two sons. Photo: @stellapicsltd/Instagram
Stella Moris is an accomplished lawyer and the mother of Julian Assange’s two sons. Photo: @stellapicsltd/Instagram

According to The Guardian, Devant earned a bachelor’s degree in law and politics at SOAS University of London, a master’s degree in refugee law at Oxford, and a master’s degree in public international law from a University in Madrid.