# So how much money has Stephanie Clifford made over Trump? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 26, 2018, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-much-money-has-stephanie-clifford-made-over-trump/814857 "2018-05-26T17:39:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2018, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-much-money-has-stephanie-clifford-made-over-trump/814857/1 "2018-05-26T17:39:45Z")
Ms Clifford as you will well know has accused the successful TV Host and real estate tycoon of giving her “hush money”, to lie about their affair. Ms Clifford’s errrr day job is/was that of making certain genre of films under various pseudonym/stage names. Since her affair with the said tycoon has come to light, her output has doubtless become more popular, just by association. I don’t have any clue as to the economics of the industry, but if her films are being viewed more often, won’t Ms Clifford come into more money then she expected? Perhaps exceeding the quantum sum she is alleged to have received? ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2018, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-much-money-has-stephanie-clifford-made-over-trump/814857/2 "2018-05-26T17:54:54Z")
I know almost nothing about this industry, but my understanding is adult film actresses do not get a percent of the film’s take. They are paid a flat fee to perform some scenes and that’s the end of their financial compensation for that picture. These links seem to support this: > **[Porn's dirtiest secret: What everyone gets paid](https://www.cnbc.com/2016/01/20/porns-dirtiest-secret-what-everyone-gets-paid.html)** > > Money is shrouded in mystery in porn. While it's widely presumed to be a multibillion dollar industry, there's no real accounting to back that up. > **[This is how much porn stars get paid - depending on what they do](https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/love-sex/porn-stars-income-how-much-get-paid-for-what-adult-film-actor-agent-derek-hay-pornography-a7569746.html)** > > 'I don’t think that adult stars make as much money as the general public perceives them to make,' says Derek Hay > **[The Surprising Truth About The Wage Gap In Porn](https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/porn-industry-gender-pay-gap)** > > It's widely believed that women out-earn men in porn, but the truth is more complicated. Of course it’s possible that she’s getting more work or better pay now due to her notoriety. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2018, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-much-money-has-stephanie-clifford-made-over-trump/814857/3 "2018-05-26T18:06:26Z")
[She does live shows now](https://www.freep.com/story/news/2018/04/18/stormy-daniels-detroit-trump/527496002/). ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2018, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-much-money-has-stephanie-clifford-made-over-trump/814857/4 "2018-05-26T18:28:08Z")
What the heck is a “quantum sum?” Clifford has been vocal about how she has profited by going public on this. She can’t be embarrassed or shamed into shutting up and she is trying to be louder on the subject than Trump is. Unlike others who have much to lose by keeping the issue in the public eye, she has much to gain. She has said that her fee for live shows has quadrupled recently and she is on a “Make America Horny Again” tour. She has her first new adult film since the news broke scheduled to appear later this year, and I assume she got a better-than-ever salary on it. She also has a website that requires a fee, and I bet her subscriber base has boomed. How much money she’s making from any of these routes I don’t know. More than $130,000? Yeah, I’d bet on that, too. After all the years that women have lost money and jobs and careers because of being quiet, that’s a good thing. But I don’t see what the actual sum involved has to do with anything. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2018, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-much-money-has-stephanie-clifford-made-over-trump/814857/5 "2018-05-26T18:31:30Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > But I don’t see what the actual sum involved has to do with anything. A lot of the questions here don’t have anything to do with anything. Sometimes they’re the best kind.😉 ---
**Author:** ![SmartAlecCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/67e7ee/32.png) [@SmartAlecCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAlecCat)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2018, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-much-money-has-stephanie-clifford-made-over-trump/814857/6 "2018-05-26T18:41:59Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > I know almost nothing about this industry, but my understanding is adult film actresses do not get a percent of the film’s take. She is a lot more than an actress: [Stormy Daniels - IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1317917/) 152 credits actress 80 credits writer 79 credits director 5 credits producer ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2018, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-much-money-has-stephanie-clifford-made-over-trump/814857/7 "2018-05-26T19:08:06Z")
And in case anyone is confused, Cliffords is the performer best-known by the stage name Stormy Daniels. ---
**Author:** ![SamuelA](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@SamuelA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SamuelA)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2018, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-much-money-has-stephanie-clifford-made-over-trump/814857/8 "2018-05-26T19:39:59Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > won’t Ms Clifford come into more money then she expected? Perhaps exceeding the quantum sum she is alleged to have received? Probably. Keep in mind that Trump’s lawyer has admitted to paying her - and was raided by the FBI. It seems highly probable that the basics of the matter - Trump had sex with her, while married, around the time she claims - are completely true. $130,000 is a lot of money to pay for a claim the other party can’t substantiate. Now, the details - such as her allegation that the President is boring in bed - might or might not be true. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2018, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-much-money-has-stephanie-clifford-made-over-trump/814857/9 "2018-05-26T20:13:49Z")
If a quantum sum is like most things quantum, it means that very few people understand it, and most of those who do can’t begin to explain it to the rest of us. Was that sarcastic? Maybe, a little. ---
**Author:** ![glowacks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/glowacks/32/5548_2.png) [@glowacks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glowacks)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2018, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-much-money-has-stephanie-clifford-made-over-trump/814857/10 "2018-05-26T20:49:09Z")
As to “quantum sum”, check [quantum - Wiktionary](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/quantum) and keep in mind where AK84 is from. His use of the word in that context apparently is normal there. I understood what he meant, but thought it was a rather non-standard usage, but it’s the top entry in English on Wikitionary, so it must get a lot of play there. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2018, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-much-money-has-stephanie-clifford-made-over-trump/814857/11 "2018-05-27T03:00:55Z")
As PTerry Ptratchett once said, _quantum_ means “add another nought”. Sounds about right for this question. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2018, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-much-money-has-stephanie-clifford-made-over-trump/814857/12 "2018-05-27T03:47:28Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > And in case anyone is confused, Cliffords is the performer best-known by the stage name Stormy Daniels. And in case anyone is still confused, “the successful TV Host and real estate tycoon” is also the President of the United States. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2018, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-much-money-has-stephanie-clifford-made-over-trump/814857/13 "2018-05-27T03:51:46Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > Perhaps exceeding the quantum sum she is alleged to have received? Let’s not go assuming the worst. Unless we hear otherwise, we should assume Ms Daniels spent a couple of minutes earning that sum and that it wasn’t instantaneous. ---
**Author:** ![Francis\_Vaughan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/francis_vaughan/32/3093_2.png) [@Francis\_Vaughan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francis_Vaughan)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2018, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-much-money-has-stephanie-clifford-made-over-trump/814857/14 "2018-05-27T04:32:06Z")
Entirely possible that 130k$ is the quantum unit for payoffs. Not having much dealing with such problems I can’t say 😃 I know in the motor racing game there is the MRU - the motor racing unit - the sum off money for which the price of all items needed to race a car is a multiple of. You don’t specify how much a new do-dad for you track car costs in dollars, but in MRUs. I suspect it is about $1000 now. Perhaps paying for silence over embarrassing peccadillos is now done in multiples of $130k. Ms Clifford being annoyed she was only paid 1 PSU. (Peccadillo silence unit.) ---
**Author:** ![Batano](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b487fb/32.png) [@Batano](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Batano)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2018, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-much-money-has-stephanie-clifford-made-over-trump/814857/15 "2018-05-27T13:06:06Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Let’s not go assuming the worst. Unless we hear otherwise, we should assume Ms Daniels spent a couple of minutes earning that sum and that it wasn’t instantaneous. Yes, let’s not be premature ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2018, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-much-money-has-stephanie-clifford-made-over-trump/814857/16 "2018-05-29T21:23:18Z")
I simply wish to point out that someone making money off of something is not a legitimate reason to doubt claims. I bring this up because that is a common strategy used in arguments, not as anything towards the OP. It is how feminists are often attacked, though, so I thought this might beb useful. Plus who knows who may cite this thread in the future. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2018, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-much-money-has-stephanie-clifford-made-over-trump/814857/17 "2018-05-31T14:49:14Z")
> [@Batano](#): > > Yes, let’s not be premature Is that one allegation? ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2018, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-much-money-has-stephanie-clifford-made-over-trump/814857/18 "2018-05-31T21:53:34Z")
Should also point out that (according to her, and she sounded credible, and it makes sense) Apparently she had been approached about her previous activities by some journalists. She was in a car, with her young daughter in the back seat, when a man stuck his head in the window and threatened her, telling her to not make trouble for Trump. She says she was so shaken up she took the first offer she was given after that - this was not a back-and-forth negotiation. Hence it was unlikely a shakedown so much as an attempt to drop the matter completely. After all, the amount is ludicrously small all in all. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2018, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-much-money-has-stephanie-clifford-made-over-trump/814857/19 "2018-05-31T22:28:19Z")
Meh. Whether or not she was threatened (no opinion on that), “_porn star fucks reality star and real estate tycoon_” ain’t much of a story, at least has not much of a shelf life. _Pornstar had sex with the current President of the United States,_ on the other hand… I am amazed that none of Trump’s primary and GE opponents found out about this. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2018, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-much-money-has-stephanie-clifford-made-over-trump/814857/20 "2018-05-31T22:41:27Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > I am amazed that none of Trump’s primary and GE opponents found out about this. Why is that “amazing”? AFAICT the payoff and NDA were made precisely in order to ensure that Trump’s opponents **wouldn’t** find out about it. If you’re trying to suggest that Daniels’s story was made up for purposes of profit after the election, then you need to explain why Trump’s personal lawyer has admitted to having paid Daniels a large sum of money in October 2016. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-much-money-has-stephanie-clifford-made-over-trump/814857.md?page=2)