What is Stormy Daniels' Net Worth?
Stormy Daniels is an American adult film actress, writer, and director who has a net worth of $250 thousand. As you likely know, Stormy Daniels became internationally famous in 2018 after it was revealed that she had been paid $130,000 right before the 2016 presidential election to stay quiet about a 2006 sexual encounter with then-candidate Donald Trump. As a result of her infamous encounter, Stormy was paid $800,000 to write what eventually became "Full Disclosure," which was published in October 2018. She would later claim that her then-attorney Michael Avenatti stole $300,000 from the book deal funds.
In June 2022, Avenatti was convicted of multiple counts of fraud and embezzlement. He received a 14 year prison sentence, of which four years are related to the $300,000 he stole from Stormy. After losing a 2018 libel case to Donald Trump, Stormy was ordered to pay $293,000 of his legal fees. After losing an appeal, collectively she was ordered to pay Trump $600,000. She has vowed not to pay him anything. As of this writing, she has not paid Trump a dime. In September 2019, Stormy was paid $450,000 related to an improper arrest in Ohio a year earlier. At one point she was paid $100,00 from NBC for her participation in a documentary. During a 2024 cross examination at Trump's NYC hush money criminal trial, Stormy was asked point blank why she had not yet paid him $600,000, she replied:
"I don't have the means to pay that that kind of funds, and because I didn't think it was fair."
Born Stephanie Gregory but also known as Stephanie Clifford, Stormy started stripping at age 17 after visiting a friend who convinced her to do a guest set. She ended up walking away with more money than she'd normally earn in a week, answering phones at her day job. After high school, she began stripping regularly at a club where she would earn an average of $300 per night. She soon moved on to bigger clubs all over Texas and Louisiana and could frequently earn more than $1000 a night in tips, 3-4 nights a week.
She made the jump to adult films at 23 and quickly landed a contract with Wicked Pictures. The typical contract for a hot newcomer pays around $75,000 per year. For her second contract, Stormy's annual salary was bumped to $250,000. Stormy has been a director for Wicked since 2004. She has written, directed, and produced dozens of adult films in the last decade.
Stormy Daniels has won several awards for her work in adult films and has been inducted into the AVN, NightMoves, and XRCO Halls of Fame. Daniels is also an aspiring politician who considered running against incumbent David Vitter for the 2010 Senate election in Louisiana. Stormy has starred in more than 180 adult films and has produced more than 65. She is currently retired from acting in adult movies, but she performs around the country at strip clubs as a featured dancer.
Donald Trump Scandal
In July 2006, Stormy Daniels had a sexual encounter with Donald Trump after a celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe. The encounter took place just a few months after Trump's wife, Melania Trump, had given birth to their son.
Stormy denied the affair for a long time, but in February 2018, she filed a lawsuit against Trump, claiming that he never signed the paperwork that was needed to make their arrangement private. As part of this lawsuit, it was revealed that Daniels was indeed paid $130,000 by Michael Cohen, Trump's personal lawyer.
In March 2018, Stormy offered to return the $130,000 to be able to speak publicly about their alleged affair. Her lawyer for a period was now-disgraced Michael Avenatti.
In a 2018 "60 Minutes" interview, Daniels stated that she only had sex with Donald one time and that she signed a non-disclosure agreement after a man threatened her while she was with her infant daughter in 2011. In August 2018, Cohen admitted that he had paid Stormy the hush money after Trump ordered him to.
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Early Life
Stormy Daniels was born Stephanie Gregory on March 17, 1979, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Her parents, Sheila and Bill, divorced when she was four years old, and Sheila managed a trucking company while raising Stephanie. During her youth, she took horse riding lessons and dance classes, and she worked at a riding stable while attending Scotlandville Magnet High School (which she graduated from in 1997).
Career
Stephanie began stripping at age 17 and started using the stage name Stormy Daniels; she chose "Stormy" because Mötley Crüe bassist Nikki Sixx had named his daughter Storm, and "Daniels" came from a Jack Daniel's advertisement with the slogan "a Southern favorite." She worked at Baton Rouge's Gold Club before becoming one of Continental Theatrical Agency's featured entertainers in September 2000 and soon met adult film actress Devon Michaels, who invited Stormy to come along with her to Los Angeles shoots for Sin City and Wicked Pictures. Daniels ended up co-starring with Devon in a scene for Sin City, and at the Wicked Pictures shoot, she met Brad Armstrong, who invited Stormy to stay at his home. Daniels began doing more scenes in adult films, and in July 2002, she landed the lead role in Wicked Pictures' "Heat." Wicked Pictures signed her to an exclusive contract in September 2002.
Stormy won the Best New Starlet Award at the 2004 AVN Awards, and that year, she began directing for Wicked Pictures. Daniels directed more than 90 films between 2004 and 2018, and in 2014 alone, she earned 14 AVN Award nominations for films she directed. In 2018, Stormy embarked on the "Make America Horny Again" tour, performing at strip clubs around the country, and she released her memoir, "Full Disclosure," in October of that year. In addition to her adult film work, Daniels has appeared in several feature films and television shows, including "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" (2005), "Knocked Up" (2007), "Dirt" (2007), and "Saturday Night Live" (2018).
(Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
Personal Life
Stormy, who is bisexual, has been married five times. She married fellow adult film actor Pat Myne on August 29, 2003, and took the last name Clifford, which is Pat's legal surname. The couple divorced in 2005
On November 4, 2007, Daniels married actor/producer Michael Mosny (aka Mike Moz). In July 2009, Stormy was charged with domestic violence after allegedly hitting Mike, and the two divorced later that year.
In 2011, Daniels welcomed a daughter, Caiden, with musician/adult film actor Glendon Crain (aka Brendon Miller). She and Glendon married on November 25, 2015. In July 2018, Glendon filed for divorce, alleging that Stormy had committed adultery and requested full custody of Caiden. A judge ruled in favor of joint custody the following month.
In July 2018, Daniels was arrested for allegedly fondling patrons at Sirens Gentlemen's Club in Columbus, Ohio, a state that has a "no touching" law for strip clubs. Since Stormy wasn't a regular performer at Sirens, she was exempt from the law, and the charges were dismissed, but she sued the police department for $2 million in January 2019 because she believed the arrest to be politically motivated. The lead detective on the case was a supporter of Donald Trump, and it came to light that another detective involved in the arrest had videos and photos of Daniels as well as information about where she was performing in his emails a few days before her appearance at the club. A March 2019 internal investigation classified the arrest as improper, and a few months later, interim chief Tom Quinlan stated that the officers who were involved would be punished. The lawsuit was settled for $450,000 in September 2019.
In 2022 Stormy married adult actor Barrett Blade.
Real Estate
In 2014, Stormy and her then-husband Glendon Crain paid $215,000 for a home in Forney, Texas. This house was listed for sale in 2020 for $352,000 and sold in January 2021.
In June 2022, a few months before their marriage, Barrett Blade paid $535,000 for a 2.2-acre property in Dunnellon, Florida.
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Awards and Honors
Daniels has won numerous awards for her films, including five AVN Awards, four XRCO Awards, three XBIZ Awards, four F.A.M.E. Awards, nine NightMoves Awards, and three Adam Film World Guide Awards. As a director, Stormy earned NightMoves Awards in 2005, 2008, 2009, and 2012, a F.A.M.E. Award in 2008, and an XBIZ Award in 2016. Daniels also received a Positive Image Award from the Free Speech Coalition in 2009, and she was inducted into the NightMoves Hall of Fame in 2007 and the AVN and XRCO Halls of Fame in 2014. May 23, 2018, was declared "Stormy Daniels Day" in West Hollywood, California, and she received a key to the city from Mayor John Duran.
