Stormy

Holt: A New York grand jury has just voted to indict

former president Donald Trump.

It's the first indictment ever of a former U.S. president

and could have a major impact

in the 2024 race for the White House.

Man: Trump's attorney has been told

the indictment relates to hush-money payments

made during the 2016 presidential election

to porn actress Stormy Daniels.

DeSantis says Florida will not assist

in an extradition request.

Ugh. Let's pack.

Man #2: The judge did say to Mr. Trump,

and I'm quoting now,

"Please refrain from making comments

that have the potential to incite violence."

**

Daniels: I have been just tormented for the last five years or so,

and here I am. I'm still here.

Blade: What are we doing?

Are you fucking filming me?

I've been traveling the world to speak at universities.

It's not something that you think would ever happen

in your lifetime, coming from porn.

Man: We're very, very lucky to have Stormy Daniels.

Daniels: People want to believe what they want to believe,

no matter what.

I really wanted to use my platform

to prove that I could not be bullied,

that women could not be quieted or hushed.

Woman: Stormy, with the recent indictment,

is it dangerous to keep speaking out in public?

You know, there's that saying, "hiding in plain view."

If I hide and cower away, it just sort of feeds the bully.

So it's just going to make it worse.

Blade: Where are we? Daniels: Where are we?

Blade: Where are we?

I don't even know anymore.

Man: Donald Trump is facing criminal charges.

He's already suggested there would be destruction

and violence if this happened.

So people will be holding their breath

now these charges have been brought.

Daniels: At first, when I spoke out, you'd never saw my name

that didn't say "porn star" in front of it.

Because we're not considered human.

Because of that, people thought I couldn't

possibly be telling the truth.

Man: Back the fuck up!

Daniels: That was the real reason why,

at the end of the day, I decided to come forward.

**

Okay. I'm ready.

**

Gibson: So let me know when we're good to go.

Man: I'm ready.

Gibson: Okay, let's do this.

Stormy, introduce yourself

and tell us why you're doing this documentary.

**

Daniels: I am Stormy Daniels, from Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Adult-film star, writer, mom,

pain in the ass, idiot who can't keep her mouth shut.

I don't know.

Flowers, or just the usual?

That one. Just the usual.

This one will look really good on you, yeah.

As long as it's not red.

Yeah.

You're so much better at this than me.

Daniels: I am here today to tell my story.

And even if I just change a few people's minds, that's fine.

If not, at least my daughter can look back on this

and know the truth.

Man: Take one, marker.

Daniels: And...

action.

In 2018, before the story broke,

I was transitioning out

from being in front of the camera to behind.

We can see Jake get up from his desk.

So I want to be here.

I was finally getting recognition.

I had just become the second-highest-paid director

in porn.

Make sure that you go that way.

I was writing and directing between 10 and 12 movies a year.

We're gonna do six and eight first, actually.

And I started working on a horror film,

which was my dream.

And I had numerous dance bookings at strip clubs

across the country.

I was only gone for like five days a month.

Otherwise, I was home with my husband and my daughter.

I lived in what I considered to be my dream home in Texas.

My neighbors had no idea that I was a porn star.

What was really, really important to me

was to be a good mom.

**

I grew up in this pretty rough neighborhood in Baton Rouge.

Lots of drugs, a lot of violence.

We used to hear gunshots and stuff all the time.

I was basically white trash.

I have a few pictures of me, of my dad.

Like, there's an old picture of me and my dad.

This is when he was rocking the the porn stache.

This is my dad teaching me how to drive a boat.

He never wanted to have a child.

He was very transparent about that with my mother.

She got pregnant on purpose because she wanted to be a mom,

and she wanted to have his baby, which I understand.

But, also, you shouldn't take that right away

from the other parent.

This is one of the only pictures I have of me and my mom.

My parents split up when I was 4.

After my dad left, my mother sort of changed.

I think it broke her heart. She was married a couple times.

None of them were great.

And she just became a very neglectful parent.

She never, like, beat me or anything like that,

but she would disappear for a long time,

and then the power got cut off.

Being not a repetition of my mom,

that's something really, really important to me.

The last time I talked to my dad, I was 17.

I hadn't seen him or spoken to him since then.

But he married my stepmom, Susan,

who gifted me with my love of horses.

**

My first horse show.

I started riding horses when I was 11.

It gave me, like, an outlet.

Was able to teach lessons

and work exercising other people's horses.

So it was also a way to make money.

And I just feel like it gave me a sense of control.

I wanted to be a veterinarian first.

I got a full scholarship to Texas A&M

for veterinary medicine.

But blessing in disguise that I did not become a vet

because I would have gone after somebody who hurt an animal,

or I would be on "Hoarders,"

because I would have all of the horses.

And that's kind of also the reason why I started dancing,

because I had a horse to feed.

When I was 17, I went to some party,

and this girl pulls up

and she's got this brand-new purple Camaro,

which in '97, in Louisiana, is a purple Ferrari.

**

But I was like, "Oh, my God.

Did you get that for graduation?"

She's like, "I bought it for myself."

And I was like, "What do you do?"

She's like, "I'm a dancer.

You should come by and see me at work one day."

Fast-forward a couple weeks later,

I got to the club.

They were like, "You want to do a guest set?"

And the next thing I know, it was basically that door opening,

it was like, pbt!, and I was out on stage,

and I made more in that 30 seconds

than I did in two weeks of shoveling horse shit.

And I was like, "This is my dream.

Do you know how many horses I could have?"

One of my first modeling shoots.

This is before I ever did porn or moved to L.A.

**

I never wanted to be a mainstream actress.

That's the running joke is that people who do porn

failed as actresses.

When I started dancing more and more,

I bought my house, I bought my boobs.

And then, my friend was going to California to do a shoot.

I went to set with her, and, you know, I had big boobs,

so they thought I did porn, and I was like, "No, no, no, no."

And they wanted to do some test shots.

Five days later, the owner of Wicked wanted to meet with me,

and they offered me a contract.

I didn't even know what that meant.

I remember a phone call I got from her in 2002.

She was approached by Wicked Pictures.

She was a little hesitant, and she wanted my opinion.

And I told her, "Stormy, this is your opportunity."

She used all of her abilities to pull herself up

by her bootstraps and get out of Baton Rouge.

This is on the side of my first Wicked movie.

It was called "Heat."

I had such a huge, long career

where I was never asked to do something I didn't want to do,

especially with my body or sexually.

King: She had a strategy.

She wasn't just a pretty face who wanted to be famous.

No, she wanted to be a director, she wanted to be a writer.

What a way to start. Right, guys?

She had vision.

She's a disturbingly smart porn star.

King: At Wicked, it was like, "What can we do different

so that women can have it be their fantasy,

not just his fantasy?"