A former adult film actress who previously claimed she had a personal encounter with Donald Trump drew widespread attention several years ago after sharing a blunt and controversial description of the alleged meeting.
In her memoir Full Disclosure, Stormy Daniels — whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford — recounted an interaction she says occurred in 2006. The story gained major media attention at the time, particularly because of a striking comparison she used while describing the experience.
A remark that quickly went viral
Daniels later spoke about the passage during a 2018 appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, where she was promoting the release of her book. By that point, the memoir had already sparked significant discussion online due to its unusually candid tone.
During the interview, Daniels explained that her description included a comparison to a well-known character from the Mario Kart video game series. The reference quickly circulated across news outlets and social media platforms, becoming one of the most talked-about lines from the memoir.
Host Jimmy Kimmel leaned into the moment with humor. During the segment, he placed several mushroom props on the desk and jokingly asked Daniels which one most closely resembled the comparison she had made in the book.
Playing along with the joke, Daniels pointed toward one of the smaller mushrooms on the table, prompting laughter from the audience.
She later joked about the surprising reaction the comment generated online.
“Do you know how much hate mail I’ve gotten from people who love Mario Kart?” Daniels said with a laugh. “In one day, I managed to ruin half of America’s childhood and mushroom farming everywhere.”
The moment quickly spread across the internet, becoming another example of how the long-running controversy surrounding Daniels and Trump continued to generate headlines and public debate.
How Daniels says the encounter began
In the memoir and during interviews, Daniels also described how the alleged meeting with Trump first happened. She claimed the two met during a golf tournament and that Trump later invited her to dinner in his hotel suite.
According to Daniels, when Trump opened the door, he was wearing silk pajamas.
“I’m pretty sure I thought he was channeling Hugh Hefner — but significantly less sexy,” she said.
Daniels added that the dinner she had expected never actually took place.
“Like, he lied to me,” she said. “I’m very food-motivated. That’s why I stayed and held out for so long because I was told there would be snacks. I was starving!”
She also recounted another unusual moment from the encounter, claiming she once spanked Trump with a magazine that featured his own face on the cover — a detail she briefly reenacted during the talk show interview.
Claims later tied to major legal case
Daniels’ story resurfaced in a major way years later during legal proceedings in New York.
In 2024, Donald Trump was convicted on 34 counts of falsifying business records related to payments made before the 2016 presidential election. Prosecutors said Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen, arranged a $130,000 payment to Daniels in exchange for her silence about the alleged relationship.
During the trial, Daniels testified about the 2006 meeting she said occurred in a Lake Tahoe hotel suite, again describing Trump wearing silk pajamas and recounting their interaction.
Trump has consistently denied that any affair took place.
After the conviction, his legal team filed an appeal arguing that the case was politically motivated. His attorneys described the prosecution as “the most politically charged prosecution in our Nation’s history” and argued that certain evidence should not have been included.
They also cited a Supreme Court ruling related to presidential immunity, claiming some aspects of the case conflicted with protections regarding “official acts” performed by a president.
Despite the ongoing legal and political debates surrounding the case, Daniels’ memoir and her televised remarks remain among the most widely discussed aspects of the controversy, continuing to draw attention years after the original claims surfaced.
