Stormy Daniels: five things you might not know about the former adult film star

Stormy Daniels is back at “the centre of a national firestorm” as New York state prosecutors reportedly prepare to bring charges against Donald Trump, said The Independent.

The former adult film star has become “one of the most powerful people in politics”, said the website, as the former president faces allegations of falsifying business records to pay her hush money over an affair.

Trump denies the 2006 liaison and has previously also denied knowing about the $130,000 payment his lawyer made to Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, in the lead up to the 2016 presidential election.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

The 43-year-old, who grew up in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, became a stripper while still at high school after what she has described as a childhood of poverty and abuse. It was during her 2018 “Make America Horny Again” strip tour that she first became embroiled in the political row and prosecutors began looking at where the hush money came from.

Five years later, any hopes she “might have had of retreating into a life of quiet domesticity with her fourth husband, fellow adult film performer Barrett Blade, and their horses on a ranch in Florida have evaporated”, said The Telegraph, as she has become the person who “could destroy Trump’s 2024 election hopes”.

Here are five things you might not know about Daniels:

She is an award-winning performer

Daniels has won dozens of awards as a performer and director in the adult film industry, including three Fans of Adult Media and Entertainment (Fame) Favourite Breasts awards. The AVN (Adult Video News) Awards, dubbed the Oscars of porn, named her Best New Starlet in 2004, and she has picked up seven more AVNs since, including Best Supporting Actress and Best Screenplay for porn horror comedy Camp Cuddly Pines Powertool Massacre.

She considered running for Senate

Daniels formed an exploratory committee ahead of the 2010 Senate race, and considered running against a Christian Right conservative who had been caught up in a prostitution scandal, CBS at the time. The porn star declared herself a Republican candidate, inspired by news that the Republican National Committee (RNC) paid expenses for fundraisers at a what she called a “lesbian bondage themed nightclub” in Los Angeles. She later decided not to run, however, citing lack of funds and the media’s failure to take her seriously.

She loves horses

Daniels owns several horses and has won blue ribbons at equestrian events. “Her preparations can be meticulous, matching her saddle pad with a horse’s bonnet colours,” reported The New York Times in 2018. Dominic Schramm, a horse trainer and rider who worked with Daniels, told the newspaper: “She takes it very personally that she does well. She can be quite hard on herself.” Her husband, who features in her latest X-rated directing project, Lawless, shares her equestrian passion and they have “settled on a farm in Florida where they own horse”, said The Telegraph.

She wanted to be a vet or a journalist

“Classmates remember her as a serious, unobtrusive student,” said The New York Times. She had offers from colleges, and the test scores to get in, and at one point wanted to be a journalist or veterinarian. However, at the age of 17, Daniels was persuaded to perform in a strip club and says she “made enough money on two songs to make more than I did all week answering phones at the riding stable that I worked at”. She went on to work as a stripper at The Gold Club in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and was later invited to perform in adult films.

She appears in The 40-Year-Old Virgin

Daniels has credited cameos in two Judd Apatow films. In The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005), she stars in a fictional movie (Space Nuts: Episode 69 - Unholy Union) watched by Steve Carell’s character, while in Knocked Up (2007), she plays a lap dancer. Asked about Daniels during an interview with The Daily Beast, Apatow said: “I just remember that she was very smart and really strong and funny, to the point where we kept asking her to do silly things in our movies.”