Stormy Daniels book summary: Adult film star gives Full Disclosure on alleged Trump affair

'At least it's the truth': Stormy Daniels on her new 'tell all' book

Stormy Daniels has promised to tell the full story of her alleged affair with Donald Trump. And now that story — sometimes shocking, sometimes tragic — is finally here.

Titled Full Disclosure, the book promises to be an account of how Stormy Daniels came to be one of the central figures in the story of Donald Trump's presidency, and perhaps even its end — apparently to her surprise, as much as to anyone else's.

"I know that the deck has always been stacked against me, and there is absolutely no reason for me to have made it to where I am, right here talking to you," she writes. "Except that maybe the universe loves an underdog as much as I do. I own my story and the choices I made. They may not be the ones you would have made, but I stand by them."

Just as with the other bombshell books of the Trump presidency, such as Michael Wolff's Fire and Fury, we'll be going through that story and those choices, live.

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[2 October 2018 13:51 · Andrew Griffin]

These things normally begin with a picture of me — but owing to a combination of technical issues and illness, there won't be one this time. With that out of the way, let's head into the bombshell book!

[2 October 2018 13:53 · Andrew Griffin]

The book begins with a "note", from Daniels' lawyer Michael Avenatti. (He appears to have taken a brief break from shouting bizarre things at Trump on Twitter to have written this.) He praises his clients' commitment to being herself, and how singular a person she is.

[2 October 2018 13:59 · Andrew Griffin]

Actually, before we start, you should know what this book looks like. On the dust jacket it's very All-American fare — this could easily be the autobiography of a country singer, or something — and on the inside it's a gold and white combo that is at once delicate and Trumpian. Perhaps that's some signal for what's to come. (Or perhaps it's not.)

[2 October 2018 14:08 · Andrew Griffin]

We begin on Stormy Daniels day, which is 23 May, at least in West Hollywood. ("Yes, it seems just as surreal to me as it did to everyone else," she writes.) She was asked to give a speech, but was incredibly nervous because she hates public speaking.

That public speaking was in front of the now familiar "New Strip Club Patron", she writes — the people who turn up to watch her because of what's happened, not because they're traditional fans. They're gay men and women, and they're younger than the crowd she used to have, she says.

They often come angry at Trump, and leave with messages like "You're going to save the world".

(She also mentions her "gay dads" Keith and JD, who presumably might become important later on, as well as her bodyguards, who successfully chose a dress for the Stormy Daniels Day celebration.)

With that, the prologue's over, and we're into Stormy's childhood.

[2 October 2018 14:09 · Andrew Griffin]

(I'm going to skip through some of the youth stuff fairly quickly: it's actually quite interesting, and worth buying the book for, but we'll be concentrating on summarising here so I'll just give you the shape rather than the texture of the stuff.)

[2 October 2018 14:12 · Andrew Griffin]

Onto Stormy's parents. Her mother was "beautiful", young, "short and thin", though not especially smart. Her father was taller, "with chiselled features and olive skin owed to Cherokee blood somewhere down the line". Stormy, she says, is a mix of the two.

They had a passionate relationship, "and she had a jealous redhead temper". They cared about each other deeply but also tendency to throw things at each other, she writes.

[2 October 2018 14:15 · Andrew Griffin]

Here's an introduction to a lesson that Stormy seems to think is important: when she was young, she was taken to dance classes because she hoped to be a ballerina. The owner of the dance studio, Donna, heard Stormy screaming repeatedly as her mother attempted to pin a hat on her head.

"Miss Donna hobbled over and shook a finger at me as she exhaled smoke. 'You have to suffer to be beautiful,' she rasped. 'Beauty is pain.'"

[2 October 2018 14:22 · Andrew Griffin]

Stormy's childhood is bleak stuff. Her father leaves, triggering a terrible time for her mother, who smoked endlessly. Her neighbourhood falls apart. Her grandmother dies and her grandfather leaves, and she's without the place that had served as solace growing up. Her own house is a state: rats take over one room, and roaches hide in her bed, leaving her with scars on her leg that last until today.

[2 October 2018 14:33 · Andrew Griffin]

[I'm skipping through a bit here: past first crushes and first friends, which are probably interesting if you're a Stormy Daniels fan — in which case you should buy the book, obviously — but have little bearing on the reason we're all here. That's because of a scandal that could bring down the president, by the way, not the salacious stuff.]

[2 October 2018 14:38 · Andrew Griffin]

Stormy is relating, very frankly, the horrifying abuse she suffered at the hands of a neighbour. Her and a friend were both repeatedly raped by this man, she says, for two years.