The Other Woman in the Stormy Daniels-Trump Saga: āHe Knows What Heās Doneā
Alana Evans, an adult actress who says she was invited to join Trump and Daniels in a hotel-room romp, opens up about the extreme harassment sheās received since coming forward.
When The Wall Street Journal first reported on the $130,000 in hush money that President Donald Trumpās longtime lawyer, Michael Cohen, paid porn star Stormy Daniels, all parties involved maintained an air of deniability. At the time, Cohen even provided a letter allegedly signed by Daniels denying any āhush moneyā payment or any āsexual and/or romantic affairā with Trump. They werenāt counting on the other womanāthe one Daniels and Trump invited over for that first encounter in Tahoe during the July 2006 American Century Championship gold tournamentāto come forward.
Porn star Alana Evans, a close friend and Danielsā then-neighbor, happened to be in Tahoe at the same time. Evans recounted exclusively to The Daily Beast the conversations sheād had with Daniels at the time, thus corroborating the Trump affair claim.
āStormy calls me four or five times, by the last two phone calls sheās with Donald [Trump] and I can hear him, and heās talking through the phone to me saying, āOh come on Alana, letās have some fun! Letās have some fun! Come to the party, weāre waiting for you.ā And I was like, āOMG itās Donald Trump!āā Evans previously recalled. āMen like him scare me because they have so much power and this was way before his presidential nomination. So I bailed on them and turned my phone off.ā The next day Evans apologized for bailing, and asked Daniels how her night was. āShe tells me, āAll Iām going to say is: I ended up with Donald in his hotel room. Picture him chasing me around his hotel room in his tighty-whities.āā
As an AVN Hall of Famer with over a decade in the porn business, Evans is accustomed to being a public figure. But when the statements she made about Trump went viral, the type of notoriety she encountered was shockingāsome might even say life-changing. With one interview, she became āthe other woman,ā and the one person who could confirm the affair because she hadnāt signed an NDA or been paid off.
In a new interview, Evans opens up to The Daily Beast about life now, the death threats sheās received, and the extreme lengths some Trump fans will go to harass her. Sheās also trying to take advantage of the platform she has now to educate fellow performers, attempting to make the adult industry a safer, healthier place to work.
When your statements about Trump and Stormy were first published, how did people in the adult industry handle it?
At the time this all happened, Iād been fighting to get our testing procedures updated, and I wasnāt well-liked at that moment because I was the voice speaking out, taking on the system with my union team. I went to a party and people Iād known for decades gave me the cold shoulder and didnāt want to be seen talking to me.
Itās funny to me how all the media attention has made me likable again by performers who, only months before, acted like they didnāt like meāpretending to be my best friends again because theyāre watching me on the news.
Has this kind of exposure had any other negative impacts?
I get death threats, threats about people coming to get me, emails that say Iāll be shown what happens to whores like me, and messages that Iām going to die. Itās amazing when you see someoneās profile on Twitter touting them as a Christian mom with children, who works in a library and pro Trumpā¦and then they call me a piece of shit traitor whore whose mother should be ashamed of me. Thatās common, and one of the nicer ones.
That has to be difficult, even knowing theyāre trolls. How are you handling it?
Most of the time I can take it but some days are harder than others. I saw an ex member of the union engaging in conversations with my trolls because they enjoyed what the trolls were doing⦠that was brutal. I took pictures of it, because it was so awful. That brought me to tears. You really learn how nasty people are.
Have you had any other experiences like that from people youāve worked with?
I had one performer call me tacky for talking about Stormyās business. Another performer told me all I did was turn down a lucrative private and I needed to shut my mouth. That was rough. I couldnāt believe this was coming from women in the industry.
Has this new level of notoriety impacted your business at all?
When the story first broke I started getting calls from weird user namesāit was from my SextPanther page, which is the only site I use for texting and phone call services. Theyād pay $10 just to get my phone number, and then pay by the minute. They were calling just to harass me. They were also paying to text me!
What was the strangest experience youāve had with people paying to contact you this way?
I had one guy who wanted me to role-play, and he asked me to make up the details about what happened between Stormy and Trump. At that point I was thinking it was some sort of setup⦠Iām exclusive with Cams.com and I have people come into my chat room just to talk to me about it. More often than not I hear from my fans that they were at home watching the news with their family or friends and when my face popped up on MSNBC or CNN, theyād say, āOh I know her,ā without thinking about it and then have to explain.
So has this been financially beneficial in some ways?
Iāve gained more Twitter followers but Iām not really seeing much of a financial gain. Itās not what people thinkāI donāt get paid for any of the TV interviews. Iām not doing appearances or feature dancing because I just donāt feel safe. I am so thankful to have a job with Cams.com so I donāt have to leave my house. I couldnāt feel safe.
How else has this impacted your life? Are you taking other precautions now?
Itās changed how I deal with my life on social media. I donāt tweet about where Iām going. Sure, the death threats suck but Iām also thankful it is so public, so now any ideas about making us disappear isnāt going to happen. Thatād be noticed.
Have there been any upsides to reaching a larger audience?
Iām using my new platform to get the message out about August Ames and what led to her suicide. Iām also using it to educate performers about industry testing, and now thereās an entire new group of people getting involved in these causes. Itās brought me an audience of performersāof women who may not have been noticed before, and now I can help be a voice for them.
How do you think this has changed the public perception of the adult industry?
There were a lot of deaths in our industry right around the time this was happening and the media was painting a picture of the problems in our industry. Letās be real: We have these same mental health and addiction problems in society, and the industry is a reflection of that. That was the focus then but thereās been a shift. Now thereās this perception that porn stars could save the country from this presidency by speaking the truth.
Have you noticed any changes in how people seem to view women in the adult business?
Itās shifted how people are thinking about women in the industry. I get so many comments from people who say I am well spoken and intelligent, and they seem surprised. They see me as a person and I donāt think we are always viewed in that light.
Do you think people are rooting for Stormy?
People want Stormy to win. As far as theyāre concerned, sheās the underdog. She represents so many women that have been mistreated or bullied and harassed by this particular person, so this is giving justice to many of those women.
Are you surprised to see how this story has blown up?
Back then, it was just a funny story; it wasnāt a big deal. Obviously. Stormy was telling people, Seth Rogen even knew about it. Now it may change the status of things happening in our country, and thatās overwhelmingā¦
What are your thoughts on how Trump has handled it?
Lying and doing everything he could to cover it up made it a big dealāthatās what created this monster. I hope men in that position think about this. Trying to buy your way out of it will do nothing but cause trouble. He knows what heās done and the women heās paid but the funny thing is so do lots of other people.