Who is Stormy Daniels? Porn star name of Stephanie Clifford who Donald Trump has denied ‘paying hush money’
The award-winning adult actress is at the centre of allegations that she hooked up with the US President in a hotel room
PRESIDENT Donald Trump has denied reports claiming that he paid a porn star $130k in hush money before his US Election victory after hooking up with her in a hotel room.
But who is Stormy Daniels, the famous X-rated actress at the centre of the explosive allegations? Here's all you need to know.
Who is Stormy Daniels?
Stephanie Clifford, who became famous under the porn name Stormy Daniels, was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana on March 17, 1979.
She began her career as a stripper in her home town at the age of 17 before entering the porn industry.
Her adopted stage name is a combination of the Motley Crue bassist Nikki Sixx's daughter Storm, and Jack Daniels whisky, which hails from Louisiana.
The 38-year-old has had a contract with the porn studio Wicked Pictures since 2002, and has directed for the company since 2004.
That year, she won the Best New Starlet Award from Adult Video News, and was inducted into the AVN Hall of Fame in 2014.
Clifford has also made appearances in mainstream films such as The 40 Year Old Virgin and Knocked Up, as well as starring as a Maroon 5 music video for "Wake Up Call", as a pole dancer.
In 2009, some of the porn star's fans tried to recruit her to make a bid for the US Senate in Louisiana.
However, she eventually announced she wouldn't run, citing the cost and the media not taking her candidacy seriously.
What were the allegations involving Donald Trump?
The White House has strenuously denied an explosive report claiming that Donald Trump paid Clifford $130k hush money following a tryst in a hotel room.
It was alleged that the US President's team arranged payment to the adult actress a month before his 2016 election victory.
Trump allegedly hooked up with the X-rated star at the Edgewood Tahoe golf tournament a year after he married third wife Melania.
Both she and the White House denied the affair, although another porn star, Alana Evans, came forward to claim that Clifford told her about it.
An attorney for the Trump Organisation, set up the payment to keep her quiet, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday.
A White House spokesman said: "These are old, recycled reports, which were published and strongly denied prior to the election."
Michael Cohen, Trumps attorney who is alleged to have made the payment, said in a statement: "President Trump once again vehemently denies any such occurrence as has Ms. Daniels."
The lawyer also delivered the statement from Clifford, which branded the WSJ article "absolutely false."
It reads: "My involvement with Donald Trump was limited to a few public appearances and nothing more.
"When I met Donald Trump, he was gracious, professional and a complete gentleman to me and EVERYONE in my presence.
"Rumours that I have received hush money from Donald Trump are completely false.
"If indeed I did have a relationship with Donald Trump, trust me, you wouldn't be reading about in the news, you would be reading about it in my book.
"But the fact of the matter is, these stories are not true."
Has Stormy Daniels spoken about the alleged incident?
In a 2011 interview with magazine In Touch, Daniels spoke about the alleged encounter with Trump claiming they had “textbook generic sex.”
The 38-year-old claims that after alleged hotel room romp, which Trump strongly denies, the future US President asked her to autograph one of her porn DVDs for him.
She said: “(The sex) was textbook generic. He was like, ‘Come here’. And I was like, ‘Ugh, here we go’.
“I actually don’t even know why I did it, but I do remember while we were having sex I was like, ‘Please, don’t try to pay me’.
“And then I remember thinking, ‘I bet if he did, it would be a lot’.”
She said he invited her to dinner after they rode in the same golf buggy.
She added: “Who would pass up an opportunity to talk to someone so interesting? I wasn’t trying to date him or anything like that.”
The actress claims she arrived at Trump’s hotel room to find him sprawled out in his pyjamas watching TV.
She said: “I was like, ‘Does Mr Hefner know that you stole his outfit?’ I was actually really mean to him. He got all huffy and tried to play it off and was like, ‘Oh I just thought we would relax here’.”
The pair then had dinner in his room but he waved off her questions about wife Melania.
Stormy added: “He goes, ‘Oh don’t worry about her’. He was very full of himself.”
The actress claims they then had sex, which she says was “nothing crazy”, and Trump asked her to sign a DVD of one of her films before they parted.
He also promised to get her on to his TV show The Apprentice, saying: “People would think you’re just this idiot with blonde hair and big boobs. You would be perfect for it because you’re such a smart businesswoman’.”
In Touch magazine claims Stormy took a polygraph lie detector test and passed "at the time of the interview."
Donald Trump's lawyer released a letter on January 10 - signed by Stormy - denying any sexual relationship.
Their relationship continued after that night with Trump allegedly calling her every ten days and greeting her with the nickname “honeybunch”.
Stormy said: “We had really good banter. He told me once that I was someone to be reckoned with, beautiful and smart — just like his daughter.”
She said she met the tycoon again at Trump Tower in New York and a vodka brand launch in Hollywood.
She claims he then invited her to a “meeting” at the Beverly Hills Hotel in July 2007 when he once again tried to get her into bed.
But the relationship soured when he admitted there would be no place for her on The Apprentice.
Stormy said: “He kept kissing my neck and was like, ‘Can you stay?’ I was like, ‘No, I gotta go’. He kept calling me less and less.”
Trump’s lawyer Michael Cohen said the President “once again vehemently denies any such occurrence, as has Ms Daniels”.
Following the revelations by In Touch magazine, news site Mother Jones obtained emails which allege that Trump had Stormy “spank him” with a Forbes magazine which featured him on the cover.
The email was sent between political operatives in 2009 when Stormy was considering running for the US Senate in Louisiana, claims the report.
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The message was sent to Andrea Dube, a Democratic political consultant based in New Orleans, who confirmed to Mother Jones that she did receive the email.
Dube discussed, with another unnamed political consultant, the possibility of Trump donating to Stormy’s campaign because the billionaire was a contact on her phone.
When Dube asked whether the porn star actually knew Trump, the political consultant said: “She says one time he made her sit with him for three hours watching shark week.
“Another time he had her spank him with a Forbes magazine.”
The other consultant, who did want to be named, told Mother Jones that the magazine in question featured Trump on the cover.
The future US President was featured on the cover of Fall 2006 issue of Forbes with two of his children – Donald Jr and Ivanka.