Stormy Daniels: Everything you need to know about the porn star that got Donald Trump indicted

She’s the woman at the centre of the indictment against Donald Trump. Here’s everything you need to know about Stormy Daniels.

• What’s next for Trump
• Trump blasts ‘political persecution’

The woman at the centre of the alleged “hush money” paid by Donald Trump is a porn star who claims the pair had an affair after meeting at a golf tournament in 2006.

Mr Trump was married to Melania Trump at the time, who had just given birth to their son Barron, when he is alleged to have met Stormy Daniels at the event in Lake Tahoe.

She was hired to greet competitors between tees and had previously claimed Mr Trump had a bodyguard invite her to dinner before she and Mr Trump later had sex in his hotel room.

The 44-year-old claimed the pair stayed in touch for a while because he offered her a role on his reality show, The Apprentice.

Ms Daniels, whose legal name is Stephanie Gregory Clifford, was raised by her “neglectful” mother Sheila in Louisiana’s capital, Baton Rouge before she graduated from Scotlandville Magnet High School in 1997.

Stormy Daniels was negotiating a deal to go on television during the presidential campaign when the hush payment was made. Picture: AFP

By the age of 17, she was working in strip clubs before she eventually began appearing in and directing pornographic films.

She used a pseudonym drawn from the name Mötley Crüe bassist Nikki Six gave to his daughter – Storm – and her preference for Jack Daniel’s whiskey.

In 2004, Ms Daniels won the Best New Starlet Award from Adult Video News (AVN) and appeared with performers such as Brendon Miller, who she was married to and edited about half of her movies.

She was inducted into the AVN Hall of Fame in 2014 and her directorial work that year earned fourteen AVN Award nominations.

The adult actress, who has been married four times and has one daughter, has also starred in Hollywood movies including the 40-year-old Virgin and Knocked Up.

However, as Mr Trump ran successfully for presidency in 2016, his relationship with Ms Daniels evolved drastically.

Ms Daniels was negotiating a deal to go on television during the presidential campaign and discuss the alleged sexual encounter with Trump when she received what prosecutors say was a $US130,000 ($A194,000) payment to “hush up”. Trump’s then lawyer, Michael Cohen, made the pay-off.

Mr Trump has denied the relationship and has said the payment was made to stop her “false and extortionist accusations.”

However, despite efforts to keep the story quiet, Ms Daniels became a vocal critic of the former president and his administration.

Originally published as Stormy Daniels: Everything you need to know about the porn star that got Donald Trump indicted