In the US, there is no longer any need to introduce Stormy Daniels, who is at the heart of the criminal trial that opened on Monday, April 15 in New York against former US president Donald Trump. The case dates back to 2018 when the Wall Street Journal revealed that the billionaire's lawyer paid the pornographic film actress $130,000 (around €122,000) in the final days of the 2016 presidential campaign to buy her silence regarding a sexual relationship she claims to have had with Trump in 2006, which the latter denies. The Republican presidential candidate has pleaded not guilty. He is accused of having falsified Trump Organization accounting documents, specifically by misrepresenting the money spent to buy the actress's silence as campaign expenses. Although she has already declared that Trump does not deserve prison, Daniels intends to speak her truth on the stand.

Stephanie Clifford, a 45-year-old Texan, has 1.3 million subscribers on X. Born into a modest family, she grew up in a tough neighborhood in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. After her parents divorced, she was raised by her mother, whom she describes as a failure. The 40-something has repeatedly recounted being sexually abused by a neighbor at the age of nine. A passionate horsewoman, she planned to become a veterinary surgeon but turned to striptease and adult films. A strong-willed young woman with a flowery tongue, she made a name for herself as an actress, then a director, and has won several awards from the X-rated film industry.

Daniels crossed paths with Trump in 2006, during a golf tournament at Lake Tahoe, Nevada. She was 27, he was 60. According to her, he invited her to dinner but when she met him in his hotel suite, the story ended in bed. In 2018, her first interview on CBS's 60 Minutes attracted 22 million viewers. While she always insisted she was not a victim, she also said she was not attracted to him. "I didn't say no because I just, I was 9 years old again," she said in Stormy, a documentary released in March. "The worst part is that I am partially responsible for every woman that could have come after me."

A feminist icon for some and an unscrupulous opportunist for others, Daniels is riding the wave of notoriety the affair has brought her. She is selling out her nationwide striptease tour and is currently writing her memoirs. But her standoff with Trump has come at a price. She fears for her safety, having been harassed and threatened by supporters of the Republican presidential candidate. Her marriage to her daughter's father ended in divorce. She also owes several hundred thousand dollars in legal fees to the former president for a lost defamation suit. Not to mention, there was the betrayal of her most loyal ally, her former lawyer, Michael Avenatti, who is now in prison for defrauding various clients, including her.