[1] Bellis attracted media attention in August 2021 after interviewing a senior Taliban leader Abdul Qahar Balkhi following the fall of Kabul.
[2] In early 2022, Bellis attracted media attention in New Zealand and abroad after highlighting her difficulty in returning home due to the country's tough COVID-19 border restrictions.
Due to Qatar's extramarital pregnancy laws, Bellis resigned from Al Jazeera in November 2021 after becoming pregnant with her partner Jim Huylebroek, a photographer and contributor to The New York Times.
On 28 January, Chris Bunny, head of New Zealand's Managed Isolation and Quarantine (MIQ) system, said that staff had contacted Bellis about making another application that would fit the requirements for emergency travel.
[18][24][25] On 31 January, Bellis claimed during an interview with Radio New Zealand that the MIQ system did not have provisions for pregnant women and that the application process was difficult and confusing due to the technicalities and clauses.
Clee also disputed Hipkin's remarks about the effectiveness of the emergency allocation system, citing the low success rate for pregnant applicants.
National and ACT Members of Parliament Bishop and Seymour also criticised Hipkins for breaching Bellis' privacy, describing his actions as unbecoming of a Minister of the Crown.
[28] On 1 February 2022, Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson confirmed that the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) had offered places in managed isolation for both Bellis and Huylebroek.
[29][30] On 22 June, Hipkins publicly apologised for releasing personal information without Bellis' consent and making "inaccurate comments," which had caused her distress.
There is little doubt her crusade from Kabul influenced the government's thinking to reopen the border and hasten a long-promised shift to home isolation for some New Zealanders.
"When a man at a churros stand in Mexico City asked where I was from and, on hearing New Zealand, replied "That's the place that banned the woman" I knew MIQ was done.