Dame Vivienne Westwood penned a powerful message on wedding dress of Stella Assange

Dame Vivienne Westwood contacted Julian Assange in prison just weeks before his death on Thursday to tell him that she was seriously ill, The Mail on Sunday has revealed.

The pair had been close friends for more than a decade and last saw each other when the fashion designer visited the WikiLeaks founder at Belmarsh prison in 2019.

Last night his wife Stella told The Mail on Sunday: “He had reached out to tell Julian and me that he was in a very bad way so his death was not unexpected.”

‘It was about a month ago. It was very hard for him because she hadn’t seen her since that prison visit in 2019.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange gestures from the window of a prison van as he is driven into Southwark Crown Court in London on May 1, 2019.

Assange will request to be released from prison to attend the funeral of Dame Vivienne, who died at the age of 81 surrounded by her family in south London.

“Julian is really looking forward to being able to go to his funeral and has already had a discussion with his lawyer about applying,” Ms Assange said.

“It’s important to him, so he’s being proactive in the hope that he’ll be allowed to attend.”

Dame Vivienne had been a vocal supporter of Assange during his time at the Ecuadorian embassy and while he was fighting extradition to the US.

After first meeting at Assange’s 40th birthday party, the couple kept in touch and Dame Vivian used to cycle to visit him at the Ecuadorian embassy, ​​where he was granted asylum from 2012-2019.

The designer dressed as a canary and suspended herself inside a giant bird cage outside the Old Bailey in July 2020 to protest her extradition.

The designer dressed as a canary and suspended herself inside a giant bird cage outside the Old Bailey in July 2020 to protest her extradition.

Famous fashion designer Dame Vivienne Westwood (pictured left and right) died peacefully surrounded by her family at her home in Clapham.

Ms Assange said: “What she and Julian shared were hardcore beliefs. Julian loved her company, she was a lot of fun and a great free thinker.

“She was in and out of the embassy up to twice a month and her son Ben also came once a week with a box of homemade sushi for Julian.”

Assange wore a dress designed by Dame Vivienne when he married the 51-year-old woman in prison in a small ceremony in March.

The fashion designer wrote a message inside the wedding dress that read: “To me, Vivienne, Julian is a pure soul and a freedom fighter.” All my love to the family, Julian, Stella, Max and Gabriel. May the sacred life force bless your marriage.

The designer’s death prompted the WikiLeaks founder to issue his first public statement since he was jailed in 2019.

In a comment posted by Ms Assange, he said: ‘Vivienne was a lady and a pillar of the anti-establishment. Bold, creative, thoughtful and a good friend. The best of Britain. She will be terribly missed by me and many others.’

Vivienne Westwood holds a banner as she demonstrates outside the Old Bailey in support of Julian Assange.

Dame Vivienne, who was born in Cheshire in 1941, is renowned for bringing punk and new wave fashion into the mainstream with her imaginative creations.

The United States wants to extradite Assange to face charges of conspiring to obtain and release US defense information following WikiLeaks’ publication of hundreds of thousands of leaked documents related to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

He was dragged out of embassy exile in 2019, arrested and locked up in Belmarsh, where his mental and physical health is known to have deteriorated. He had a mini stroke in 2021.

A Wikileaks delegation recently received support from leaders across Latin America to call for his release.