A former adult film actress who once claimed she had a sexual encounter with Donald Trump made headlines years ago after offering a blunt and highly critical description of the alleged meeting.

In her memoir Full Disclosure, Stormy Daniels — whose real name is Stephanie Clifford — shared her version of events surrounding an encounter she says took place in 2006. The account drew widespread attention, particularly after she compared the former president’s anatomy to an unexpected pop-culture reference.

A comparison that sparked headlines

Daniels discussed the controversial passage during a 2018 appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live while promoting the book. The memoir had already generated buzz online for its unusually candid description of the alleged encounter.

According to Daniels, the comparison she used referenced a mushroom character from the Mario Kart video game series — a remark that quickly spread across social media and news outlets.

During the interview, host Jimmy Kimmel leaned into the moment by bringing out several mushroom props and jokingly asking Daniels which one most closely resembled what she had described in the memoir. Daniels played along with the joke before pointing to one of the smallest mushrooms on the table.

She later joked about the backlash the comment triggered.

“Do you know how much hate mail I’ve gotten from people who love Mario Kart?” Daniels said. “In one day, I managed to ruin half of America’s childhood and mushroom farming everywhere.”

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.