Stormy Daniels in Peacock’s original documentary “Stormy”.Photo:Peacock
Peacock
Stormy Daniels' new documentary pulls viewers into the whirlwind of chaos that’s stalked the actress and her family since news of her 2006 encounter withDonald Trumpput her at the center of American politics.
Daniels, a Republican, never set out to be a hero of the political left — but in speaking out against one of the most powerful men in the world as he ascended to the GOP throne, she put a conservative target on her back that she’s still running from six years later.
ThroughoutStormy, which landed on Peacock on Monday morning, Daniels recounts the many moments along the way when she’s been convinced that her outspokenness would one day get her killed.
Stormy Daniels looks through family photos in “Stormy,” now streaming on Peacock.Peacock
“My friend was like, ‘You might actually have a problem. I don’t want to scare you, but based on the things you’ve told me, now you’re the whole Republican Party’s problem. And they like to make their problems go away,'” Daniels recalls in the documentary. “I was f—ing terrified.”
Stormy Daniels exits the United States District Court Southern District of New York for a hearing related to Michael Cohen on April 16, 2018.Drew Angerer/Getty
Drew Angerer/Getty
In January 2018, one year into Trump’s presidency,TheWall Street Journaldropped a bombshell reportthat Trump lawyer Michael Cohen had allegedly arranged a hush money payment to Daniels in the final month of the 2016 campaign.
While people attacked her, the non-disclosure agreement initially prevented her from defending herself. Finally, aware that it could cause a $1 million fine, she went on60 Minutesin March 2018 to tell her side of the story. When the highly anticipated interview aired, “I had these crazy messages and tweets,” she says.
Two days after the60 Minutesappearance, journalist Denver Nicks — who had been working with Daniels to secretly compile footage for a documentary — captured a terrifying moment, as the actress noticed a car aggressively pursuing them and trying to snap photos of her and her daughter. “I am really freaked out right now,” Daniels' daughter, whose face is blurred for the duration of the film, says from the back seat. “Slow down, slow down!”
Stormy Daniels on “Jimmy Kimmel Live”.Jimmy Kimmel Live
Nicks was on the frontlines of Daniels' paranoia as she decided to challenge Trump in court for the blowback she’d received.
“When I met Stormy, she was convinced that she was living in the last weeks or months of her life,” Nicks tells cameras, reflecting back on those early days of filming. “It sounds insane, and it is, but she was also suing the president of the United States, I mean, in the middle of the kind of situation where s— like that happens.”
In one scene from those fearful days, Daniels is walking around the mall with her daughter when she flatly turns to Nicks and gives him instructions on how to handle her death.
“Not to be morbid, but we should write something saying, like, ‘And if something happens to me, then you get the hard drives to do with what you want,'” she says, to sighs from Nicks. “No one knows you’re here. No one knows to come after you. And you can make a copy of it and walk into any news station or police department and be like, ‘Here’s everything.’ And then sell it for as much as you can toE! True Hollywoodor whatever, and split it 50/50 with [my daughter].”
Stormy Daniels is interviewed for Peacock’s documentary “Stormy”.Peacock
“Security guards would report people showing up trying to bring guns in, knives in. It was terrifying,” her tour manager tells producers. “F—, it was hell. And Stormy wanted to keep the whole thing away from her daughter.”
After years of trying to find her way and reclaim her narrative, things seemed to get a little better for Daniels. She settled down on a peaceful property with horses and felt optimistic about her ability to retreat from public view when needed.
The dream didn’t last long, though, because in early 2023, Trump became the first president to face criminal charges when he wasindicted over the alleged hush money paymentinvolving Daniels. The ire she received from Trump’s supporters before returned with a vengeance.
“When the indictment happened, Michael Cohen actually texted me and expressed extreme fear for my safety,” she says in the documentary. “Back in 2018, [people online called me] stuff like ‘liar,’ ‘slut,’ ‘gold digger.’ This time around it is very different. It is direct threats, it is, ‘I’m going to come to your house and slit your throat, your daughter should be euthanized.’ They’re not even using bot accounts, they’re using their real accounts."
She shows the camera crew a wound on one of her horses. “Somehow our address was leaked again online," she explains, “and in an attempt to draw my horse out so that I would then go out, they shot him with a rubber bullet.”
Former President Donald Trump is arraigned in a Manhattan court house on criminal charges surrounding alleged hush money payments.Andrew Kelly-Pool/Getty
Andrew Kelly-Pool/Getty
And thus goes Daniels’ story. She continues drowning in legal fees she owes Trump, she continues to receive threats, she fears for the day her daughter’s identity is leaked and she has little hope that a trial in Trump’s hush money case —now scheduled for April— will hold him accountable.
“The justice system failed me. It has absolutely failed me in every single way,” she says on camera. “It didn’t protect me when I made reports about being threatened or somebody attacking my horse, and that’s been one of the hardest things about this.”
“I’m tired," she continues. “Like my soul is so tired. And I don’t know if I’m so much a warrior now, as out of f—s, man. I’m out of f—s.”
source: people.com
