Stephanie A. Gregory Clifford, born March 17, 1979, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, grew up in a lower-income household after her parents divorced shortly after her birth; she was raised by her mother and graduated from Scotlandville Magnet High School in 1997, initially considering a journalism career.
She entered adult entertainment at 17 as a stripper, performing at clubs like the Gold Club in Baton Rouge, adopting the stage name Stormy Daniels. Her pornographic film career began in 2002 with scenes for Sin City and Wicked Pictures; she won the 2004 AVN Best New Starlet Award, directed for Wicked since 2004, and was inducted into the AVN, XRCO, and NightMoves Halls of Fame. Career highlights include 44 industry awards, mainstream appearances in films like *The 40-Year-Old Virgin* (2005) and *Knocked Up* (2007), TV shows such as *Dirt* (2007) and *Party Down* (2009), and hosting the 2019 XBIZ Awards.
Personally, Daniels has been married four times (to Pat Myne, Mike Moz, Brendon Miller, and Barrett Blade), has one child with Miller, lives in Forney, Texas, owns horses, and came out as bisexual in 2019.
The Trump scandal arose from allegations of a 2006 affair; in 2016, Trump's attorney Michael Cohen paid Daniels $130,000 in hush money to silence her, leading to her 2018 lawsuit claiming an invalid non-disclosure agreement. Trump denied the affair. Cohen's 2018 plea deal admitted the payment was election-influencing. Trump was convicted on May 30, 2024, of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to the payments.