Adult film star Stormy Daniels is suing President Donald Trump over a so-called “hush agreement”.
Daniels claims she and Mr Trump had an affair starting in 2006, but he denies the allegations.
Stormy Daniels was born Stephanie Clifford in Louisiana in 1979.
She moved into the adult film industry first as a performer, before in 2004 branching out into directing and also writing. Her stage name, Stormy Daniels, comes from Mötley Crüe’s bassist Nikki Sixx’s daughter Storm, and the US whisky Jack Daniels – which southerner Ms Clifford chose after reading an ad calling the drink “a Southern favourite”. You may also recognise her from such films The 40-Year-Old Virgin and Knocked Up, and the music
video for Maroon Five’s song Wake Up Call.
It all goes back to July 2006 – when the White House was merely a twinkle in Donald Trump’s eye.
Ms Daniels says she met him that month at a charity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe, a resort area between California and Nevada. In a 2011 interview with In Touch Weekly, published in full in January, she says Mr Trump invited her to dinner and that she went to meet him in his hotel room.
“He was all sprawled out on the couch, watching television or something,” she said in the interview. “He was wearing pyjama pants.”
Ms Daniels alleges the pair had sex in the hotel room (Mr Trump’s lawyer said he “vehemently denies” the allegation.) If Ms Daniels’ account is true, this would all have happened just four months after the birth of Mr Trump’s youngest child, Barron.
Ms Daniels said Mr Trump suggested he could bring her on to his TV show The Apprentice.
She also recounts watching a shark documentary with the future president.
Ms Daniels says he’s “terrified” of the animal and – look away, shark fans – he apparently told her “I hope all the sharks die.” Sorry folks, I’m just not a fan of sharks – and don’t worry, they will be around long after we are gone. She claims the pair kept speaking for years afterwards. Ms Daniels said the last time they spoke was in 2010, around the time she called off her US Senate bid.
