Behind The Name: Who Is Stormy Daniels?
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — She's now a household name.
For years, Stormy Daniels was really only known to fans of pornographic films.
Daniels, real name Stephanie Gregory Clifford, finds herself in the middle of a firestorm. She's alleged a sexual relationship with now-President Donald Trump that started in 2006.
A lawyer for Trump, namely Michael Cohen, says he paid Daniels $130,000 in October 2016 to keep private details of the alleged relationship. Cohen recently said he wasn't reimbursed for the payout. On Wednesday, Cohen was accused of trying to silence Daniels by obtaining a secret restraining order from a private arbitration proceeding.
Meanwhile, Rep. Ted Lieu tweeted that Cohen committed two possible felonies with the payment.
Daniels, for her part, says the president didn't sign the agreement, and therefore she should be able to speak about the alleged affair and not in violation of the agreement she signed.
However you look at the scenario, it's a mess. The question remains if it will end up being more of a mess for her or the president.
Who is the woman behind the name?
She worked professionally in porn on camera from about 2001 to 2016. Born March 17, 1979, she also worked in porn videos as Stormy Waters or just Stormy.
When she wasn't on camera, Daniels was also a writer and director of porn films.
Louisiana-born Daniels was one of the most-popular and highest-paid XXX actresses of her day.
She started stripping around the age of 17. From there, she segued into porn. According to her Wikipedia page, the name Stormy came from her love of Motley Crue's Nikki Sixx naming his daughter Storm. Daniels came from the beverage Jack Daniels.
She was inducted into the Adult Video News Hall of Fame in 2014. Ten years prior, she was awarded Best New Starlet. Several times, she won Best Actress. Titles include (at least the ones we can mention on a family-friendly website) include "Breast Friends 2," "Class Act," "Voluptuous," "Hot Showers 6" and "Island Fever."
She's a self-described Republican. Daniels announced in 2010 that she was considering challenging Louisiana Sen. David Vitter for his seat. She ended up dropping out when she failed to raise a lot of money and said the media didn't take her candidacy seriously.
Daniels also segued into mainstream film and TV with a series of cameos and bit parts in series like "Dirt" and films like "The 40-Year-Old Virgin."
Daniels has a daughter born in 2011. She's been married twice, and both ended in divorce after two years.
