Vogue, merch sales and Pornhub: How Stormy Daniels cashed in on publicity from Trump arraignment

Adult actress has seen huge spike in search for her movies following former president’s indictment, writes Graeme Massie

Adult film actress/director Stormy Daniels attends the 2019 Adult Video News Award (Getty Images)

While Donald Trump’s historic appearance in a New York courtroom on criminal charges may have been a dark day for the former president, his arrest has been a boon for his tormentor, Stormy Daniels.

The porn star, who is a central figure in the hush money payments that led to 34 falsifying business records charges being brought against Mr Trump, has been using it to cash in on her increased notoriety.

Mr Trump appeared grim-faced as he faced a judge and pleaded not guilty to the charges he now faces, while Ms Daniels has taken full advantage of the free publicity she has gained.

Prosecutors say that Mr Trump paid Ms Daniels hush money to keep a sexual encounter she alleges took place in 2006 from becoming public knowledge in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election.

Now searches for Ms Daniels on the adult video site Pornhub have spiked massively as the criminal case against Mr Trump has got underway. Her viewership on the site peaked at 631,254 on 31 March, the day after Mr Trump was indicted by a New York grand jury, according to TMZ.

And Pornhub told TMZ that the site’s users searched “Stormy” more than 650,000 times on Tuesday. That is a 32,400 per cent increase on her average for the first three months of 2023, according to the entertainment website.

Ms Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, has also seen a jump in merchandise that she sells on her own website, which includes signed calendars for $25, signed topless photos for $20,and T-shirts featuring the #TeamStormy logo.

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Ms Daniels, 44, was also interviewed by the fashion magazine Vogue at her Florida home the weekend after the indictment came down, with the article released on the day Mr Trump appeared in court.

“My name is in the news again, so my merch sales are up – it’s natural, but the way it gets talked about is, like, I’m doing a marketing campaign,” she told the magazine.

“Meanwhile, he’s out there raising millions of dollars for his campaign on the back of this.”

Meanwhile, Mr Trump has also been fundraising himself off the back of his arrest, telling supporters they can get a T-shirt with a fake mugshot on it in return for a $47 donation.

“This Witch Hunt will BACKFIRE MASSIVELY,” he said in the email. “With your support, we will write the next great chapter of American history – and 2024 will forever go down as the year we saved our Republic.”

Ms Daniels told Vogue that she has been facing death threats ever since Mr Trump was indicted on criminal charges last week.

But, despite the backlash, she hopes that Mr Trump will “get what’s coming”.

“For my own sake, I’d like vindication, I’d like him to get what’s coming for once,” she said.

“But that’s about me, and there’s other stuff that’s more, like, about the country,” she added, referring to the other investigations circling the former president.

Meanwhile, Ms Daniels was ordered to pay MrTrump $120,000 on the same day he appeared in court.

In a California courtroom 3,000 miles from Manhattan Criminal Court, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ordered the adult film star to pay more than $121,000 for his legal fees.

The fees come on top of the more than $500,000 she was previously ordered to pay Mr Trump.

This comes after Ms Daniels lost a defamation lawsuit against the former president back in 2018 after he branded her claims that she was threatened by an unidentified man in a parking lot over their alleged affair a “total con job”.

Ms Daniels was forthright about her feelings when she posted an X-rated tweet about Mr Trump as he appeared in court.

In the tweet, Ms Daniels cited a derogatory phrase that she has been called online by her detractors.

“It’s definitely more fun being under my sexy man instead of under arrest,” she added moments after the former president was ushered into a New York courtroom to face a judge.

And in another tweet she described former first lady Melania Trump as “the only pet Tiny has”, using her preferred nickname for the former president.

She also tweeted that the nickname also applied to “his IQ, integrity, hands, etc”.