Former adult film star Stormy Daniels shares new details about her relationship with Donald Trump in a new documentary on Peacock called “Stormy.”
Many things have been said about Stormy Daniels. A funny, sassy, strong woman from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, who grew up barely surviving in poverty in an already poor city, the Daniels we see in the new documentary Stormy cusses unapologetically, makes jokes, and is clearly a survivor. There is a defiance in the way that she carries herself that makes her compulsively charming. She is not a victim, and it shows.
Stormy, released this past week on Peacock, is primarily about the events surrounding her relationship to former President Donald Trump. When Stormy Daniels met Trump at a charity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe in 2006, she just saw him as a “goofy reality star.” As she says in the doc, “He was a playboy and he was used to getting his way.”
At this time, Trump was best known for his work on the hit reality show The Apprentice. He invited her to dinner at his hotel, but since she got there early she went up to his room where he was wearing black silk pajamas. Daniels was there for business.
“You’re actually really smart,” said Trump to her as they discussed the business of a possible appearance on The Apprentice. While coming out of the bathroom, Trump cornered Daniels, she alleges. In a later 60 Minutes interview after Trump became president, Anderson Cooper asked her pointedly if she had wanted to have sex with him, to which she responded “No. But I didn’t say no.”
Daniels has been adamant in the past that what occurred between her and Donald Trump was not rape, but that she also felt like he wouldn’t have taken “no” for an answer. In her own words towards the end of the documentary Daniels says of the incident, “I didn’t want it, but I allowed it to happen.”
Trump was and is a man of power and great privilege. At the time of their meeting in Lake Tahoe in 2006, Trump was 60 while Daniels was just 27. He had more money than she could probably ever make in a lifetime and was one phone call away from the most rich, powerful, and elite of the world. There was no doubt that there was a power imbalance between the two that went far beyond gender and age. So did the absence of a “no” imply “yes” for Trump?
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