The very paranoid life of Julian Assange in exile
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has opened up about his secret meetings with Pamela Anderson, his various love children and the mixed emotions he felt when Hillary Clinton lost the election.
In a lengthy and wide-spanning feature with The New Yorker's Raffi Khatchadourian, Assange shed light on his paranoid life living in exile in London's Ecuadorian embassy.
The 46-year-old, who has been living within the small confines of the embassy for five years now, has fueled romance rumors of late with former Baywatch star Pamela Anderson after it emerged that the pair had been meeting since October last year.
Anderson regularly stops by the embassy where they hold private meetings in the conference room, which are often disguised by white noise.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has opened up about his paranoid life living in exile in London's Ecuadorian embassy after he sought asylum there five years ago
While there have been rumors of a romance between the pair, an Assange supporter told the New Yorker that it was unlikely to be true and that their meetings are recorded by a surveillance camera.
'The Ecuadorians are trying to run their Embassy. They are quite a Catholic nation, and so the idea of him having his girlfriends come in is quite a difficult one. I don't think it really happens,' the source said.
Anderson, who says she takes 'a lot of notes' during their meetings, said she acted as the 'bridge' between Assange's life in the embassy and the one outside.
'He's a political prisoner,' Anderson said. 'He is the hard line - and I always say that there has to be an extreme for there to be a middle ground.'
Assange has divided his 4x4 meter room in the embassy into an office and a living area where he has been leading WikiLeaks since he sought asylum on June 18, 2012.
He got a cat - which now has its own Twitter account - in May 2016 to give him some company. Assange told the media at the time that it was a gift from his children. But a source told the New Yorker that Assange had stared at the animal for a while to figure out how it could be useful and maximize publicity for him.
'Then (he) came up with this: 'Yeah, let's say it's from my children',' the source said.
Assange has several children but their identities are largely not known. Some of them reportedly live in France under secret names. An ex-colleague spoke out in 2011 saying he had at least four children living in Australia.
Most is known about his eldest son, who is believed to be an Australian software designer in his mid-20s named Daniel. Assange is said to have fathered him in his teens with his then 17-year-old girlfriend.
Assange has fueled romance rumors with Baywatch star Pamela Anderson after she started visting him regularly since October. She is pictured above in April (left) and February (right) arriving at the embassy
Assange (above in May this year) often stays awake for up to 22 hours until he collapses from exhaustion and lives in fear that the embassy could be stormed at any time
Behind the walls of the embassy, Assange often stays awake for up to 22 hours until he collapses from exhaustion. He lives in fear that the embassy could be stormed at any moment.
Assange also takes several precautions to make sure he doesn't fall ill to avoid having to go to hospital and potentially lose his asylum status.
The embassy reportedly has a whiteboard with procedures listed out in case Assange faces a medical emergency.
The former computer hacker is said to have a fractured tooth and a shoulder injury that he has not yet treated given his fear of being arrested.
Everything down to the food he eats is planned out. Someone close to him will go out and hand deliver food to him.
'It has to be brought in discreetly,' Assange told the New Yorker. 'If it is all from the same place, it is a security risk. I don't want to sound paranoid. The Embassy has security staff, and they have concluded that it is too dangerous.'
Assange has made many enemies given his long track record of releasing top secret government documents. In the weeks prior to the 2016 US election, WikiLeaks leaked emails from the DNC and Hillary Clinton's campaign manager John Podesta.
Those close to Assange say he has fostered a dislike for the former Democratic presidential candidate for a decade. Clinton once declared that Assange's leaks was an attack on 'America's foreign-policy interests' and the 'international community'.
Assange got a cat in May 2016 to give him some company. Assange told the media at the time that it was a gift from his children. He has several children but their identities are largely not known. Some of them reportedly live in France under secret names
Just weeks after Trump's inauguration, Assange started dropping cryptic hints on Twitter about the release of 'Vault 7' - a trove of documents claiming to reveal top CIA hacking secrets. The documents were released in March
Greek politician Yanis Varoufakis said Clinton's high polling results ahead of the election were 'energizing' Assange: 'The person who might become President of the United States was targeting him, and at the same time he had material over her. He was exhilarated.'
Assange had expected Clinton to win and, despite his disdain for her, had reacted to Donald Trump's win by saying: 'This isn't happening, is it?'
Just weeks after Trump's inauguration, Assange started dropping cryptic hints on Twitter about the release of 'Vault 7' - a trove of documents claiming to reveal top CIA hacking secrets.
WikiLeaks said the thousands of files, which they released in March, were the most comprehensive release of US spying files ever made public.
The leak included 8,761 documents and files from an isolated, high-security network situated inside the CIA's Center for Cyber Intelligence in Langley, Virgina.
It detailed intelligence information on CIA-developed software intended to hack iPhones, Android phones, smart TVs and Microsoft, Mac and Linux operating systems.
WikiLeaks alleged that some of the remote hacking programs could turn these electronic devices into recording and transmitting stations to spy on their targets.
It also claimed the CIA can bypass the encryption of Whatsapp, Signal, Telegram, Wiebo, Confide and Cloakman by hacking the smart phones the applications run on.