Stormy Daniels never thought she’d be involved in the world of politics, in loads of legal debt or beefing with a former reality TV host turned president. In "Stormy," the nearly two-hour documentary that premiered during Austin's SXSW festival and is streaming now on Peacock, Daniels reveals the challenges she's faced since her encounter former president Donald Trump became public.
“I am here today to tell my story, and even if I just change a few people’s minds, that’s fine,” she says in the documentary. “If not, at least my daughter can look back on this and know the truth.”
Daniels, born Stephanie Clifford, alleges she had an affair with Trump in 2006 and was paid $130,000 in exchange for a nondisclosure agreement just days before the 2016 presidential election. A judge ruled Monday that Daniels and Trump's former attorney Michael Cohen can testify at his upcoming Manhattan trial on charges he paid that hush money to the former porn star.
Here's what we learned from Stormy Daniels' new documentary, executive produced by Judd Apatow:
Daniels says she and Trump first crossed paths during a Lake Tahoe golf tournament in July 2006. She was aware of him from NBC's "The Apprentice" and an appearance on a wrestling program, she says, but wrote him off.
“Who would really take him seriously?" she says. "He was a playboy, and he was used to getting his way.”
She says that when Trump invited her to dinner, she emphatically declined. “He was 60 and I was 27, just doing my job," she remembers. "But I talked to my publicist, and he was like, ‘I think you should do it. Just go. At least you’ll get a good laugh out of it. You’ll have a good story.’”
Daniels says she arrived early for dinner, so she met Trump in his hotel room, where she found him dressed in black silky pajamas. She says she told him to put on clothes, as “(Hugh) Hefner wanted his PJs back.” Trump went to change.
She says the two engaged in “good conversation” pertaining to business, which was not flirty. But she claims the tone changed drastically when she came out of the bathroom and felt cornered by Trump.
“I don’t remember how I got on the bed, and the next thing I know, he was humping away and telling me how great I was," she says. "It was awful, but I didn’t say no.”
Later in the documentary, Daniels takes a cameraman to her Louisiana hometown, showing him the house of a neighbor she says sexually abused her when she was 9.
“I have maintained it wasn’t rape in any fashion" with Trump, she says. "But I didn’t say no, because I was 9-year-old again. And the last thing I remember was, 'I could totally take him if I want to scream or fight, but I’m not supposed to act like that.'”
After they met, Daniels says Trump would phone her at least once a week, “profess his love, beg to see me again.” She says she met him “five or six" times after that, but that they never had sex again.
Daniels says she signed the nondisclosure agreement because she was "trying to keep the story from coming out so that it would not hurt my husband (Glendon Crain, who filed for divorce in 2018) and my daughter, and I wouldn’t lose my life ... There would be a paper trail and money trail linking me to Donald Trump so that he could not have me killed.”
Daniels shares in "Stormy" her concern that she might be murdered for her connection to the scandal.
Daniels talked about the harassment and threats she received after speaking out about her alleged affair with Trump. In one scene in the documentary, she reads hateful social media comments.
"Trying to set an example for your daughter? Yeah, right. Try closing your legs first," she reads aloud.
"You are pure scum," she continues.
"Even if you (were) raped, you should've kept your mouth quiet for the greater good," she adds.
"You're nothing but a fat hillbilly. Trump would never touch you. Stop lying before I'm forced to shut you up myself."
After a tossed defamation lawsuit, an appeals court ruled that Daniels must pay nearly $122,000 to the former president in legal fees. In the documentary, she said she would accept incarceration before ever paying any of the man’s legal fees.
Court appearance:Stormy Daniels, Michael Cohen permitted to testify on Donald Trump hush money, judge rules
