Who is Stormy Daniels? The Mom and Adult Film Actress Who Went From Louisiana Dancer to Memoir Author

Stormy Daniels, a key witness to the former president Donald Trumps hush money criminal trial in Manhattan, testified in the case Tuesday [Reuters], detailing her alleged sexual relationship with Trump in 2006, which Trump denies. She claims she was paid $130,000 in 2016 to prevent her from going public with her story just before the presidential election. Here's a closer look at who she is and her journey:

Who is Stormy Daniels?

Daniels, 45, is an adult film actress, writer and director from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Her real name is Stephanie Clifford and she got her start as an exotic dancer in Louisiana before moving to Los Angeles to star in adult films. She has appeared in box office hit films including The 40-year-old Virgin And Knocked up. In 2014, Daniels [CNN] was inducted into the Adult News Video Hall of Fame.

She wrote a revealing book, Full disclosure, released in 2018 and divulging salacious details [The Guardian] about her alleged one-night stand with Trump in 2006 at a celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe, California. Trump has repeatedly denied having sex with Daniels.

Daniels has been married four times. She has a daughter with her third husband Glendon Crain. The two married in 2015 and divorced in 2018 after Crain alleged Daniels was not telling the truth. [People] about what happened with Trump before their meeting. They eventually reached a custody agreement regarding their then 7-year-old daughter, who is Daniels' only child.

What Stormy Daniels did

In December 2022, Daniels married her fourth and current husband, adult film actor Barrett Blade, who has largely remained out of the public eye.

She appears in the recent Stormy documentary [Business Insider], released in March by NBC's Peacock streaming service, in which she reveals that the $293,000 in legal fees she was ordered to pay to Trump five years ago increased from more than $600,000 with the accrued interest. Daniels says she would rather serve prison time than pay him money.

Daniels also says in the documentary that she tries to live a normal life with her daughter and husband, but her allegations against Trump have made that difficult. [AFP].

What is its connection to Trump's criminal trial in Manhattan?

Daniels testified Tuesday [Associated Press] that she met Trump at a celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe, California, in July 2006. She alleges that Trump invited her to his hotel suite for a dinner where the two discussed the possibility of her appearing on his show, The apprenticethen engaged in sexual relations.

Daniels said she stayed in touch with Trump over the next year so she could contact him about appearing on his show. She claims the last contact she had with Trump was in 2008, when he told her she would not appear on The apprentice.

Allegations of a sexual relationship between Trump and Daniels surfaced in 2011 and 2016. [ABC News]. Days before the 2016 presidential election, Daniels signed a nondisclosure agreement and accepted $130,000 in exchange for not publicly discussing her alleged relationship with Trump.

At the time, Michael Cohen, Trump's lawyer, made the payments to Daniels' lawyer. Prosecutors allege that when Trump repaid Cohen in 2017 after Trump won the 2016 election, business records were falsified to hide these secret money payments from voters to cover up the alleged 2006 affair with Daniels.

In New York State, falsification of business records in the first degree is a misdemeanor. Trump is charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records, including checks, invoices and the general ledger related to Cohen's reimbursement.