He’s survived two impeachments and kept prosecutors in check, from the US Capitol riots to secret files disappearance. But Donald Trump could still end up in court — thanks to a 44-year-old porn star named Stormy Daniels.
At the heart of a scandal that could spark a historic indictment against the former president, the adult film actress became a household name fighting as best she could against the world’s most powerful man.
Daniels’ years-long feud with Donald Trump — which has taken place on social media and in front of the world’s television cameras, where she has often been filmed in her signature pink suit and stiletto heels — has come at a price.
Trump supporters routinely insult her on social media, echoing the Republican leader who gave her the infamous “Horse Face” nickname.
But Daniels – who once toyed with entering politics herself and who shows no lack of ambition, character or wit – has handled the limelight largely with aplomb.
Stephanie Clifford — her real name, though she prefers to use her stage one — was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and raised by her mother after her parents’ divorce. She was neglected by her family and sexually abused by an older man at the age of nine, she wrote in her 2018 memoir.
Despite everything, she was a good student and had a passion for horses. To earn a living, she first turned to striptease, then to the adult film industry, where she became a star actress, director and screenwriter and received several awards.
But it was her relationship with Trump that introduced her to the broader American public.
– met on a golf course –
Daniels says she first crossed paths with the real estate mogul in the summer of 2006 during a charity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe on the California-Nevada border.
The actress just had a cameo in Judd Apatow’s film 40 Year Old Virgin. Trump, for his part, was the new father of a little boy with his third wife, Melania.
Daniels was 27 at the time and Trump was 60.
The story goes on
According to Daniels’ account, he invited her to his suite for dinner, where he greeted her on his sofa in her pajamas.
She claims they had “perhaps the least impressive sex I’ve ever had.”
Trump has denied ever having had sexual relations and has accused Daniels of “blackmail” and a “total fraud.”
What is certain is that shortly before the 2016 presidential election, Daniels received $130,000 – a silent payment. That payment is the focus of the Manhattan District Attorney’s investigation into a possible violation of campaign finance laws.
When word of the transaction broke in 2018, Daniels asked the courts to overturn her non-disclosure agreement with Trump and began doing the rounds on TV shows.
– ‘I am not blind’ –
On CBS’ 60 Minutes, she said she wanted to set the record straight.
“I’m not a victim,” she stated flatly. And even if she wasn’t attracted to him that night in Lake Tahoe, she said their relationship was consensual.
The actress was also clear about the promises Trump had made regarding a role on the hit series The Apprentice, which had further propelled the real estate mogul into the public eye.
Did she think he was trying to lure her?
“Naturally. I mean I’m not blind. But at the same time, it might work out,” she said, adding that she saw the relationship as a potential boost for her career.
In recent days, as Trump predicted he would be arrested in connection with the payment made to her – and threw her unflattering nicknames on social media – she has pushed back.
She has mocked him with her own clumsy nicknames – like “Tiny”, an unflattering reference to his anatomy.
While Daniels’ standoff with Trump earned her many enemies among his supporters, the spotlight hasn’t displeased the longtime actress — who seriously considered running for a US Senate seat from Louisiana in 2010.
Daniels, who has one daughter, married porn actor Barrett Blade last year. He is her fourth husband.
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