Anderson noted that because Assange "wanted to look good" for her, he wore two pairs of sweat pants in an effort to mask his weight loss.

"He feels like people won't fight for people if they’re not resilient, and he is the most resilient person I’ve ever met," she said.

Assange skipped bail in 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he was wanted on sexual assault allegations, which he denied. The charges were subsequently dropped, but Swedish authorities announced they were reopening their investigation in May.

After seven years of hiding at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, Assange was arrested by United Kingdom authorities in April. Nearly one month later in May 1, Assange was sentenced to 50 weeks in prison at Southwark Crown Court in central London. He read a letter to the court apologizing to those who "consider I have disrespected them," adding that he had struggled in difficult circumstances.

Following the London arrest, federal U.S. prosecutors unsealed an indictment against him, charging him for allegedly conspiring with former intelligence officer Chelsea Manning in an effort to unlawfully gain access to a government computer in 2010. The breach is considered one of the largest thefts of classified government information in American history.

Assange as well as his supporters have claimed he had no role in hacking Democratic documents or harvesting other government secrets, maintaining that he functioned as a journalist and publisher. The charges against Assange continue to raise concerns about the ripple effects it will have on press freedom.