You’re About to Hear A Lot More About Stormy Daniels: Get to Know Trump’s Mistress

In the days of the 24/7 news cycle — and the era of the headline-making Trump administration — it’s hard to keep up with the countless people who enter the political realm. The latest is Stormy Daniels, who, according to the Wall Street Journal, was paid $130,000 to keep quiet about her affair with Donald Trump. Though Stormy denied an affair in a letter released by Trump’s lawyer, In Touch Weekly has exclusively published a first-person interview — which can be read in its entirety here — from 2011, in which Stormy details having an affair with the president (a story that was corroborated at the time by her good friend Randy Roz and ex-husband Mike Moz; additionally, at the time of the interview, Stormy took and passed a polygraph).

After their sexual encounter — which she described as “textbook generic” — she said that President Trump offered her a spot on his beloved reality show, The Apprentice. She said, “When I came out, he was sitting on the bed and he was like, ‘Come here.’ And I was like, ‘Ugh, here we go.’ And we start kissing.” After having sex, she said, “we hung out for a little while and he just kept saying, ‘I’m gonna call you, I’m gonna call you. I have to see you again. You’re amazing. We have to get you on The Apprentice.”

Despite Stormy’s own 2011 confession, Trump’s personal lawyer Michael Cohen has continued to deny the affair, saying, “President Trump once again vehemently denies any such occurrence, as has Ms. Daniels.”

So who is Stormy Daniels really? Get to know the woman behind the headlines.

Who is Stormy Daniels?

Stormy Daniels is the stage name of an American adult film star. She began stripping when she was 17, and has been working in the adult film industry since 2004.

What’s her real name?

Stormy was born Stephanie Gregory Clifford. Since working in porn, she’s opted to go by “Stormy Daniels,” “Stormy Waters,” or sometimes just “Stormy.” The moniker “Stormy” pays homage to Mötley Crüe, whose bassist Nikki Sixx named his daughter Storm, while “Daniels” was inspired by a Jack Daniels ad that declared the whiskey a “Southern favorite,” something the Baton Rouge native identified with.

What happened between Stormy Daniels and Donald Trump?

Though a lawyer for Trump has repeatedly denied an affair, in 2011 Stormy confirmed in an interview with In Touch that she had an affair with the businessman-turned-politician. They met at the American Century celebrity golf tournament in July 2006; he later came to the gift lounge sponsored by her adult film company, and he asked for her number before he invited her for dinner. She arrived at his hotel room, where they ended up having dinner.

She told In Touch, “[The sex] was textbook generic. I actually don’t even know why I did it.” The encounter took place less than four months after Trump’s wife, Melania, gave birth to his youngest child, Barron.

How old is Stormy Daniels?

The blonde actress is 38, and will celebrate her 39th birthday on March 17.

Why is Stormy Daniels famous?

Though she’s appeared in some mainstream shows and movies (like The 40-Year-Old Virgin), the blonde bombshell is obviously best known for her adult film career and accomplishments, though she’ll probably be best remembered for her affair with Trump. The scandal isn’t her first venture into politics; in 2010, she considered running for senate in her native Louisiana.

Who is Stormy Daniels’ partner?

Stormy has been married twice; from 2003 to 2005, she was married to fellow adult entertainer Pat Myne. Then, in 2007, she married Mike Moz — another X-rated actor — but later divorced him in 2009. She also dated musician Glendon Crain, with whom she has a son.

Trump apparently liked that she was just like Ivanka.

In her exclusive 2011 interview, Stormy told In Touch that they kept in touch (no pun intended) because he was offering her a spot on The Apprentice, which she was more than interested in. They remained in contact for years, using The Apprentice as his hook. He thought she was an interesting candidate because, in her words, “He goes, ‘People would think you’re just this idiot with blond hair and big boobs. You should be perfect for it because you’re such a smart businesswoman.’”

In fact, he thought she was so smart and beautiful, that he compared the adult film entertainer to his oldest daughter Ivanka Trump. She said, “He told me once that I was someone to be reckoned with, beautiful and smart just like his daughter.”

He had a thing for his own Forbes cover…

According to Mother Jones, Stormy once told friends that during her affair with Trump, he requested that she spank him with a copy of the business magazine with his face on the cover — which sounds familiar. She told In Touch he conveniently had a copy of a magazine that featured him. She said, “He kept showing me he was on the cover of a magazine that had just come out and it was some sort of money magazine, I wish I could remember which one it was. But he had it in the room and he kept showing it to me and I was like, ‘Dude, I know who you are.’ He was trying to sell me, I guess. The first time I met him, the first couple of hours, he was very full of himself, like he was trying to impress me or something. But I do remember he just kept talking about this magazine that he was on the cover of, like, ‘Look at this magazine, don’t I look great on the cover?’”

He also had a thing for “Shark Week.”

Yet he hates sharks… Stormy opened up about how he was “distracted” by Discovery’s “Shark Week” programing. “The strangest thing about that night — this was the best thing ever. You could see the television from the little dining room table and he was watching ‘Shark Week’ and he was watching a special about the U.S.S. something and it sank and it was like the worst shark attack in history,” she said. “He is obsessed with sharks. Terrified of sharks. He was like, ‘I donate to all these charities and I would never donate to any charity that helps sharks. I hope all the sharks die.’ He was like riveted. He was like obsessed. It’s so strange, I know.”

Stormy felt worse for Melania than Trump felt for his own wife.

In the interview, Stormy said she never met Melania, and when she asked about her, Trump told her “not to worry about her.” But she did feel for the now-First Lady. “If I was his wife and I found out that my husband stuck his d–k in a hundred girls, I would be less mad about that than the fact that he went to dinner and had, like, this ongoing relationship,” she said, though confirmed that he never spoke to her about sleeping with other women.

She was never told to keep quiet.

Despite reports that she has since been paid $130,000 to keep quiet about their affair from more than a decade ago, at the time, Trump didn’t tell Stormy to lay low about their encounter. At the time, she considered his decision to be “arrogant” and recognized it as a “really stupid move on his part.”