Stormy Daniels is an icon, a provocateur, and, of course, a legend. She’s built her adult film empire and weathered unimaginable pressure surrounding what she casually downplays as her “political stuff.” Now she has a new moniker to add to her list of titles, and that’s house mother to a group of love-struck Daddies and Himbos on the hit reality show For the Love of DILFs.
The new OUTtv series, which focuses on two groups of gay men — Daddies and Himbos looking to find love cross-generationally — instantly went viral when it was announced. That was in part because of the eye-catching and oh-so-memeable concept, but also because of Daniels’ involvement as the host. As it turns out, she’s a perfect fit. The show is charmingly campy and allows Daniels to show off her comedic chops. She’s also a queer woman with a deep connection to (and has the love of) the LGBTQ+ community, so she’s also able to serve as a confidant and advisor to the men, as their hearts become increasingly entangled.
PRIDE sat down with Daniels to talk about the experience of hosting the show in a wide-ranging conversation that touched on everything from her hopes for a MILFs spin-off; to what was happening behind the closed doors of DILF manor; to her experiences being dehumanized by the mainstream press. Daniels holds nothing back, and that’s just one of the reasons we love her so much.
PRIDE: What was it about For the Love of DILFs that made you want to sign that dotted line and become the host?
Stormy Daniels: Have you not seen the pictures of the contestants?
Fair! Very fair!
How could anybody ever say no? What I forgot to take into consideration is that none of them would be interested in me. Now I have to convince them to let me do For the Love Of MILFs. So far, they’re not hearing me on that one.
I am manifesting this with you right now Stormy! I love that the show offers audiences a look at a different side of you. You are so funny. Particularly in your interactions with Dr. DILF, I love all the camp and meta humor. Did you get to do a lot of improvising?
All the stuff with me and Dr. DILF was improv. As a matter of fact, I think half of those, at least three or four, we didn’t even film those [segments] when we were on the show. [I was like] I’ve got an idea. Those are actually shot in my house, separately because I had these ideas. They’re like, OK, fine, just do what you want. Anything to shut me up at that point, probably.
Well, it was hilarious. Was that part of the appeal to you to be able to show a different side of your personality, like how funny you are?
My fans already know that about me by watching the movies that I directed or maybe seeing my stand-up or watching other things that I’ve done. So of course, yes. But I can’t lie, it pisses off a lot of people who just think that they can shut me down and my 15 minutes are over. Bitch, I keep rewinding that clock for the last 20 years. I am a petty bitch and nothing makes me happier than pissing off people with my, ‘Here I am again! Did you miss me?’
The premise of the show is so tongue in cheek. The Himbos and Daddies are a cute gimmick, but ultimately these guys seem genuinely interested in finding love. Like Tony Cannoli is literally quoting Disney movies!
He did that the whole time by the way!
Hilarious! This show is both sex-positive but also shows them seeking emotional connections. How do you think that’s going to kind of complicate some people’s perceptions of the queer community?
The most fun part of that is to make them second guess their hard, fast opinions. Their ingrained prejudice and I think it’s gonna shock some people... it’s going to hit some people hard and I love doing that.
I think also, it’s going to just show that they’re human and I know what that’s like coming from porn. People don’t think of porn stars as human beings. That’s why for the longest time, anytime you saw my name, with all the political stuff, it was prefaced by the word. What? ‘Porn star.’ Do you think it would have been nearly as much fun if it said kindergarten teacher, Stormy Daniels? Or accountant Stormy Daniels? Or waitress Stormy? Like, no, no, it was ‘porn star.’ It was also followed by what was then — because I had to change it because of this — my real name in parentheses. Every time you see Bruno Mars’s real name, is it in parentheses? Or Nicolas Cage? Or Whoopi Goldberg? No, because we think of them as human and they don’t think of porn stars as human. I was not considered human.
Yes, this show does show a lot of the stereotypical stuff. They’re hot, they’re scantily clad, they’re oiled up, and there’s drama. All the things we love about the stereotypical gay man. Oh, it’s there. Oh, it’s there... But what’s also there is the rest of it.
Yes, they are sexually open, and they talk a lot about sex, and they make a lot of jokes, and they’re scantily clad. And did I mention that they’re oiled up? I’m a little fixated on the oil. But they also had a lot of conversations about boundaries and consent. I’ve walked up upon many conversations of these men having and they’re not just like, ‘let’s get naked and be irresponsible!’ I hope that can be an example to everyone.
You’re the host, but you also serve as a bit of a friend and counselor to the guys. Did you get to spend a lot of time with them? Or did you dip in and out?
On camera, I dipped in and out. Keep in mind, if we’re showing one or two couples here, the rest of us are also in the house. This wasn’t necessarily like one of those 24-hour filming shows, like Surreal Life, which I just did, or even like Celebrity Big Brother, the crew did go home. But I did stay in the house, I really did get to know the guys independently, which then I could roll over to the next day when we were filming with that knowledge.
I was there and I can tell you right now, like 90% of them — I have one or two that I wasn’t too much of a fan of, but that’s life — I do think that 95% of them were there for the right reasons and were very genuine and authentic. And those who weren’t, you know, they leave pretty quickly.
Aha! So when you told some of the guys they were glowing the next morning, you had some tea!
I got to cheat a little bit not just because I was actually in the house — it was a huge house and they had very good insulation like the walls were thick. I got intel because my husband was one of the cameramen on the show. His specific job was the confessionals every night. So he would come to bed and spill the tea.
Amazing! So, you really got to have a front-row seat for these love stories.
I was in the splash zone! [Laughs] It was really cool. Oh, there is so much I want to say! One of the couples I was rooting the most for, I was devastated that it didn’t work out. It’s not for the reason that you would think that’s one of the big surprises in the show — and I didn’t see it coming. Nobody did. I had a top three and I was really spot on, that shows you how genuine it was.
What was the hardest part?
The only time I almost shit my pants for real? Was when we had an unexpected plot twist — real, not scripted.
At no point was I a judge. At no point was my opinion directly responsible for somebody going home. I had to tell them who was going home because I was the one reading the votes, but it was never my choice. I was just the messenger. There was something that happened that looked like it could end up in a tie. And the producers came to me and said, If this goes that way, you have to be the tiebreaker. I was like NO! I’m outnumbered, I can’t fight them all. They know where I live! Luckily, it didn’t happen. It sorted itself out naturally.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
