ABSTRACT
Julian Assange never knew his father, whose identity remains unknown. What is known is that his mother had been fleeing from a former lover whom she said had been stalking her. Christine Assange’s peripatetic lifestyle had only just begun. A year after Julian’s birth, Christine married Brett Assange, the director of a theatre touring company, and the family moved constantly throughout Julian’s childhood. By the time Julian was fourteen, he had lived in thirty-seven different towns, changing schools and sometimes being home-schooled. By the time Julian was eight, his mother had re-married and gave birth to his half-brother. Three years later, in 1982, this marriage broke up and a custody battle ensued that prompted Christine Assange to go into hiding for the next five years with her sons. Shortly after their separation, Julian became severely depressed and was hospitalised for six months.
