Page 33 - AVN Intimate Summer 2018

“Honestly, I’m not that savvy with the heterosexual
adult film world,” Ibrahim said. “But now Stormy is
like many of my religious icons: Cher, Madonna ... she
is an icon now. What she is doing is more important
than, like, Taylor Swift. She is speaking truth and
holding people accountable and good for her.”
Even other local businesses got in on the action.
Yogurt Stop, just down the block from Chi Chi
LaRue’s, had a chalkboard easel set up on the
sidewalk with the announcement of “Today’s Flavor
of the Day: A Storm’s A Comin’.”
“My fan base was always
white men with money, but
now there are women
coming in groups to the clubs
when I’m dancing.
I’m seeing people of every
color and every orientation
coming out to see me and
offer their support.”
— Stormy Daniels
The pomp and circumstance wasn’t expected,
Daniels said, but very much appreciated. She even
jokes she already has a special place to display the
key.
“Around my neck!” she told AVN. “These keys
keep getting bigger. Penthouse gave me my first
key, then I got my big pink diamond key for being
Penthouse Pet of the Century, and now I have this
one!”
The jokes and the smiles come naturally for
Daniels, who’s worked to make the best of her current
reality. In addition to continuing to perform and
direct, as well as feature dance nationwide, she’s had
to deal with everything from internet trolls and real-
life protesters to intense media attention.
Meet and Greet Fans and photographers came out to meet Daniels at a signing event inside Chi Chi LaRue’s adult boutique in West Hollywood.
“That’s a hard NO,” she said emphatically to the suggestion that the attention was
something she sought out or asked for.
“But she’s handling it all pretty fucking well,” a member of her entourage said. “I’ve
known her since well before all this started, and been spending an awful lot of time with
her recently She hasn’t changed a bit, She’s a fucking unicorn.”
In her efforts to make the best of it all, Daniels teamed up with “my two gay dads,”
referring to close friends Keith Munyan and J.D. Barrale, to create T-shirts and bracelets
with the hashtag #TeamStormy to sell on the website StormyStore.com. The team set up
an in-store event at Chi Chi LaRue’s to sell merchandise, but also to meet with some of the
newest members of her fan base.
“I’ve noticed my demographic has been changing,” Daniels said. “My fan base was
always white men with money, but now there are women coming in groups to the clubs
when I’m dancing. I’m seeing people of every color and every orientation coming out to see
me and offer their support.”
That was part of why she specifically chose an adult store in West Hollywood for the
public debut of her #TeamStormy shirts.
“There are a lot of gay guys who are reaching out to me, and they are not coming to see
me because they are fans of my work,” she said. “I am grateful for them but they are not
always comfortable coming out to a straight strip club, so I wanted to find an outlet to meet
with them.”
And it turned out many fans wanted to meet with her. A line of people stretched around
the store, out the door, down the block and around the corner. All of them waited for their
chance to get autographed head shots and their own #TeamStormy shirts.
A portion of each T-shirt sale is being donated to charities and organizations that help
with anti-bullying efforts.
“I wanted to donate to a charity, and anti-bullying felt like the right thing,” she said. “I
didn’t want to donate to something that was demographic or gender specific. And being
bullied hits close to home. It felt authentic to donate to fight bullying.”
Find #TeamStormy T-shirts and more on StormyStore.com, or at Chi Chi LaRue’s, 8861 Santa Monica
Blvd., West Hollywood, ChiChiLaRues.com.
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