‘Stormy’ filmmakers say they wanted to show how the justice system failed Daniels

Stormy Daniels has never shied away from speaking frankly about what she says transpired between her and former President Donald Trump, but how well do you really know her?

That’s the question that the new Peacock documentary “Stormy,” now streaming, aims to answer. The film takes a closer look at Daniels’ personal life and how it’s been transformed since Michael Cohen admitted coordinating a payment to Daniels and another woman, Karen McDougal, just before the 2016 election to keep quiet about their affairs with Trump. Cohen pleaded guilty to federal charges for the hush-money payment, which led to Trump’s indictment on 34 counts of falsifying business records in 2023.

Director Sarah Gibson and producer Erin Lee Carr, previously behind the film “Britney vs Spears,” say they teamed up again for “Stormy” because they wanted to offer viewers a broader look at Daniels. They describe how the men in Daniels’ life have failed her — along with the justice system — and go into how she’s coped with online threats and attacks, multiple lawsuits, the breakup of her family and the media attention that has often reduced her to a singular description.

“Porn star Stormy Daniels — you never saw her name without ‘porn star,’” Carr says. “She was a porn star director. She was incredibly talented and is talented.”

Gibson and Carr began their project a year before Trump’s indictment in the hush-money payment