Stormy Daniels’ Memoir, ‘Full Disclosure,’ Comes Out Next Month

The latest and perhaps juiciest Trump tell-all to land this year isn’t from a disgruntled former White House staffer or a deeply sourced investigative journalist. It’s by Stephanie Clifford, better known as Stormy Daniels, the pornographic film star and unlikely feminist resistance hero, who has waged a legal battle over a nondisclosure agreement designed to prevent her from talking about a sexual relationship she claims she had with Donald Trump.

On Wednesday, St. Martin’s Press announced that it will publish Clifford’s memoir, “Full Disclosure,” (pun likely intended) this October, just before the midterm elections.

In a news release, the publisher said Clifford will tell “her whole story for the first time,” including how she came to be a successful actress and director in the adult film business, her alleged affair with Trump and “the events that led to the nondisclosure agreement and the behind-the-scenes attempts to intimidate her.”

“I own my story and the choices I made,” Clifford writes. “They may not be the ones you would have made, but I stand by them.”

“Full Disclosure” follows other explosive books about Trump and his administration, including Michael Wolff’s best-seller “Fire and Fury,” James Comey’s “A Higher Loyalty,” Omarosa Manigault Newman’s “Unhinged: An Insider’s Account of the Trump White House” and most recently, Bob Woodward’s “Fear: Trump in the White House,” which has dominated headlines with insider accounts of turmoil, instability and paranoia inside the White House. Woodward’s book became an instant blockbuster this week, selling more than 750,000 copies, and Simon & Schuster ordered a ninth printing, which will bring the number of hardcover copies in print to more than 1,150,000.

“Full Disclosure” could inflict further damage, and is likely to put the White House on edge. The publication will bring Clifford’s story back into the headlines, just weeks before the contentious midterm elections, and could draw new public scrutiny to her allegations about the affair and efforts by Trump and his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, to cover it up.

Clifford has already spilled some of the details of the alleged affair, and has given splashy interviews on “60 Minutes,” “Jimmy Kimmel Live” and in Vogue. But she now promises a more detailed version of events. Shortly before the 2016 election, Clifford was paid $130,000 by a shell company created by Cohen, in exchange for not publicly disclosing a sexual relationship she said she had with Trump in 2006. Clifford sued earlier this year to have the agreement deemed unenforceable, arguing the contract, which Trump never signed, was illegal. She also sued the president for defamation.

The scandal may pose one of the most serious legal threats to Trump’s presidency. Last month, Cohen pleaded guilty to violating campaign finance laws by making the payment to Clifford, and said that he did so at the direction of Trump.

Cohen and Trump recently indicated they are willing to tear up the nondisclosure agreement, but Clifford and her attorney, Michael Avenatti, have not accepted the offer.

In an interview Wednesday, Avenatti said the book has been in the works for some time, and called it an “extraordinarily detailed” account that will bring to light new information about Clifford’s relationship with Trump and “its aftermath.” (Clifford is not currently giving interviews, Avenatti said.)

“When people read this book, they are going to have newfound respect for the human being and the woman who is known as Stormy Daniels,” Avenatti said. “I think they will be very moved by her story.”