Stormy Daniels, the adult film star who played a pivotal role in the downfall of Donald Trump, leads a life that is starkly different from her public persona.
The 45-year-old recently testified in the former US President's hush money trial, recounting their one-night stand in his hotel suite back in 2006. Despite enduring relentless daily abuse and even donning a bulletproof vest to court, Stormy stood her ground.
Following Trump's conviction on 34 counts of falsifying business records to hide payments made to Stormy, she broke her silence, telling the Mirror she feels vindicated for "telling the truth". However, she's now ready to leave the case behind and focus on her personal life.
READ MORE: Stormy Daniels' 5 bombshells after Trump verdict – death threats to 'I'm not a prostitute'
There's lots of quality news coming out of the US.
Stormy, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, resides on a ranch in Florida with her husband and daughter. While the world may associate her with her sexual past, she prefers to concentrate on her roles as a mother, competitive horse rider and actress.
She revealed to the Mirror: "My life now is my husband, daughter and competing with my horse, Leo. I'd like to bid for mainstream acting success, and I'm filming a thriller movie and a comedy series. It is thankfully a world away from the courtroom.
"It was so intimidating being in front of the jurors and lawyers all looking at me, but I'm glad the stuff I wanted came out in court. I wanted to prove I'd been telling the truth the entire time. I was telling the truth that I was not paid for sex. It was not a prostitution job. I was not an escort. I was not a prostitute. It was consensual.
"That was one of the biggest things for me, that I'm not a liar. All I did was give the REAL truth to the questions I was asked. Think about that for a moment. You had to hear me talk about it. I had to live it."
Stormy is seriously upset with Trump's lawyer shifting the focus onto her past career in adult films, which is far from her current life. She expressed her disgust at the way she was treated by Trump's attorney Susan Necheles, who attempted to use her X-rated career to argue that she made up her explicit story of sex with the ex-president.
"How bad to have a woman get up there and try to slut shame a woman," she said. "I can't imagine that anyone else would say otherwise. She actually had the nerve to argue because what I do makes my testimony less valuable.. It was both insulting and demeaning."
Stormy has openly expressed her wish to see Trump in prison, stating: "I think he should be sentenced to jail and some community service working for the less fortunate, or being the volunteer punching bag at a women's shelter."
She also has some advice for Melania Trump, who did not appear in court once during her husband's sex-week trial in New York City. "I don't know what their agreement may or may not be, but Melania needs to leave him," she said.
"Not because of what he did with me or other women but because he is a convicted felon. It's been proven he is abusive; he was found liable for sexual assault and tax fraud and is now a criminal. He's neither Teflon Don nor Teflon Con anymore."
It comes as the former US President was found guilty on 34 charges of forging business documents to cover up his affair with Stormy ahead of the 2016 election.
Trump's then-lawyer Michael Cohen paid the ex-porn star $130,000 (£102,000) to ensure she remained silent about the alleged sex she had with him at a celebrity golf tournament 10 years earlier, in the lead up to the election.
The celebrity pair had an encounter after a dinner at a golf club in Lake Tahoe in 2006 and Stormy was later paid the money to stay quiet about their night together.
However, Trump's downfall came when he and former aide Cohen tried to conceal the payment as a business expense – with Stormy soon finding herself at the centre of the most controversial criminal trial in US history.
"If I could go back in time to July 2006, I would not have accepted Trump's invitation to dinner in Lake Tahoe," Stormy confessed. "I definitely regret putting myself in that situation, but I am not the one who should be ashamed. I'm not the one who was married, had ulterior motives or was dishonest."
She further added: "I get asked a lot, like if you could go back and do it again or do this again, and I say how far back because if I went all the way back, I would not have gone to his room. I get asked like was it worth it to to speak out and to stand up to the being bullied and to clear your name or whatever and most of the time, I say 'yes'. But going to his room, I will regret forevermore."
For the latest breaking news and stories from across the globe from the Daily Star, sign up for our newsletters.
