Who are Julian Assange’s children – Daniel, Gabriel and Max? The WikiLeaks founder has finally reunited with his wife Stella Assange and kids in Australia as a free man, after a 14-year legal battle

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is finally a free man, reuniting with his family in Australia last week after pleading guilty to violating US espionage law. He arrived by private jet at Canberra airport where his wife Stella Assange, members of the media and supporters awaited him as they cheered on in their droves, Reuters reported. Assange, who has been embroiled in a 14-year legal battle for his freedom, is considered by some a journalistic hero for exposing abuses by US armed forces in Iraq and Afghanistan on his WikiLeaks platform. In 2010, WikiLeaks released footage of US soldiers shooting dead Iraqi civilians and two Reuters staffers in Baghdad, which caused public outrage against the US government. His arrival in Australia follows more than five years in a British high-security jail and seven years in asylum at the Ecuadorian embassy in London, per Reuters. The Guardian reported that CIA officials under then-president Donald Trump had even discussed abducting and assassinating Assange during the years he was sheltering at the Ecuadorian embassy. After years of protests for Assange’s release, the news is considered a win – however, some argue that him having to plead guilty for doing his job as a journalist sets a chilling precedent for future whistle-blowers and reporters. “That is a really alarming precedent. It is the sort of thing we’d expect in an authoritarian or totalitarian country,” said Andrew Wilkie, an independent Australian lawmaker, per Reuters. If his extradition to face court in the US had gone through, he would’ve faced a maximum of 175 years in prison, NPR pointed out. It won’t be an easy transition either, after years of confinement. “Julian needs time to recover, to get used to freedom,” his wife Stella said at a press conference at a hotel in Canberra. “I want Julian to have that space to rediscover that freedom.” “This case is an attack on journalism, it’s an attack on the public’s right to know, and it should never have been brought,” she added. “Julian should never have spent a single day in prison. But today we celebrate, because today Julian is free.” Here’s what we know about Julian Assange’s family, who he has finally reunited with: How many children does Julian Assange have? Julian Assange, 52, has at least three children. Per The Guardian, his oldest son Daniel Assange is in his 30s, and he shares two much younger children, Gabriel, seven, and Max, five, with his wife, Stella. According to ABC News, Assange will meet Gabriel and Max for the first time outside of prison. The young boys had to endure searches by guards and sniffer dogs every time they visited their father in prison. It’s unclear if Julian has more children, as his former WikiLeaks colleague Daniel Domscheit-Berg claimed in his book Inside WikiLeaks that he would talk about how he had at least four “love children”, writing: “He seemed to enjoy the idea of lots and lots of Julians, one on every continent.” Who is Julian Assange’s wife, Stella Assange? Stella Assange’s 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. Stella Assange didn’t reveal her baby daddy’s identity for six years According to The Guardian, Stella managed to keep her relationship with Julian from the public for six years. She first met Julian in 2011 while he was under house arrest at the home of WikiLeaks supporter Captain Vaughan Smith. As an established lawyer and expert in international law, she had been hired as part of Julian’s legal team to help fight his case against extradition to Sweden. In 2012, she officially changed her name to Stella Moris to protect herself and her family. The couple reportedly began their love affair in 2015, got engaged in 2017, and soon after had two sons. At first there was no indication they were Julian’s, as Stella refused to tell even close friends who the father was in a bid to keep them safe. Their covert relationship was finally made public after Stella attempted to secure bail for the WikiLeaks founder in April 2020. Gabriel and Max were very excited to see their father As seen in a video posted by ABC News this week, Stella said that her children were very excited to see their dad. “I had to tell them gradually so they were very excited, they were jumping on the sofa,” she said in the clip. “I managed to send a video of them jumping on the sofa and he was very, very pleased.”