Donald Trump trial: who is Stormy Daniels, the ex-porn star who makes the former American president tremble?

She is the most scrutinized woman of the moment in the United States, far ahead of Oprah Winfrey or Michèle Obama. Ambitious, with a strong personality, the former pornographic film actress Stormy Daniels takes her bimbo style from TV set to trial, with her keen sense of comeback. Stéphanie Clifford, her real name, built a lucrative business empire around her alleged sexual relationship in 2006 with Donald Trump, at the heart of the first criminal trial which pitted her against the November 5 presidential candidate.

For several years, the two personalities have insulted each other on social networks, despite the efforts of the American candidate to cover up the matter. The latter is accused of having concealed a reimbursement from his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, regarding a payment of 130,000 dollars (approximately 120,000 euros) to the former porn star. A sum released before the 2016 presidential election to buy his silence on the alleged sexual encounter which took place while he was married to his third wife, Melania.

In 2018, he gave it the more harmless but unflattering nickname “Horse Face”. She uses the nickname "Tiny", or "Little Thing", in reference to her male anatomy. Between the two, the mutual hatred is not recent. In the summer of 2006, when she was 27, her path crossed that of the real estate mogul in a luxury resort in Nevada. The actress is coming off an appearance in Judd Apatow's comedy "40, Still a Virgin", Donald Trump has just had a little boy with his wife Melania.

According to the ex-actress' account, the billionaire noticed her and invited her to dinner. Still according to her, she arrives early and he then asks her, before going to the restaurant, to meet him in his suite. In a documentary published on March 18 on the Peacock streaming platform, Stormy Daniels claims to have seen the former president “in his underwear, so confident” once in the room. “I remember thinking, 'how the fuck did I get into this?' I felt misled, duped,” she said, 18 years after the alleged events.

Previously, according to her, Donald Trump had praised her intelligence, comparing her to his daughter Ivanka. “I said it again and again, it was in no way rape,” she continues. But I didn’t say no because I felt like I was nine years old again.” She assures that they then had a sexual relationship, he denies it.

The former porn star, 45, reveals in these extracts a previously unknown face, further removed from the image of the sulphurous and immoral woman portrayed by the American media. In 2021, she confided in the columns of Vice News to have been raised in Louisiana by her mother after her parents' divorce, she describes having been neglected by her family and sexually abused at nine years old by an older man. “My mother was a wreck. We were trash, my clothes didn’t fit me, I was poor and I smelled bad.”

Despite everything, a good student and passionate about horses, she turned to striptease at a very young age to "provide for her needs" then starred in porn films. The busty actress, director and screenwriter with long blond hair, launched into pornographic industry in 2002. The young woman quickly began winning awards in the industry, and landed roles in TV shows and films such as "Knocked Up."

The revelation of the transaction in 2018 with the then American president shocked public opinion. In the process, Stormy Daniels makes the rounds of television sets and asks the courts to cancel the confidentiality agreement. She assures that she wants to give her version, but insists that she is not a “victim” even if she does not consider herself “attracted to him” that famous evening in 2006 in Nevada. Before qualifying these statements this year in the documentary.

The audiovisual document also shows how his life was turned upside down by the affair and its consequences. Her marriage fell apart (she has since remarried), the insults from Donald Trump supporters became more virulent and she feared for her safety. Before, she was called “a liar, a whore, a corrupt woman,” says the woman who considered running for the Senate in 2010. Since the ex-president was indicted, “it’s very different. We're talking about direct threats like ''I'm going to come to your house and cut your throat'', ''your daughter should be euthanized''. She responds to messages on her X account with a biting wit, and always a smile.

Since then, Stormy Daniels has rebuilt her life. She is married to another adult film star, is the mother of a little girl and the owner of a horse farm. “I'm living the American dream while doing a job that I love,” she gushes on her X account. She launched her own reality show in 2020, “Spooky Babes,” in which she searches for haunted houses in as a “paranormal investigator”.

In Peacock's documentary, one scene particularly illustrates the gap between his vulgar public image and his desire for appeasement. Having gone to film an interview about Donald Trump shortly after his indictment last year, she can be seen in the middle of a telephone conversation, where she learns that her daughter had perfect grades at school. After a short period of time when her face glows, she composes herself, cynical. “Instead of being here with her, I’m here talking about a former president’s penis.” Later, still in the documentary, she also talks about her weariness. "I am tired. My soul is so tired.