How Seth Rogan Knew About Stormy Daniels And Donald Trump's Affair
In 2018, Stormy Daniels and Donald Trump's names landed in news headlines together when word got out that the president had once had a sexual encounter with Daniels and paid her hush money via a lawyer to keep quiet about it. But soon after, another name would become loosely associated with the affair: Seth Rogen.
First, let's back up. Daniels, an adult film star, allegedly had sex with Trump in 2006, according to a 2018 "60 Minutes" interview. She tried to share her story multiple times, per CBS News, but was pressured to keep it under wraps. Finally, in 2016 — the same year that Trump was nominated as a presidential candidate — Daniels received a payment of $130,000 to stay mum about the affair.
In 2018, just one year into Trump's presidency, The Wall Street Journal published an article exposing the payment and secret affair, triggering a cascade of events including, in 2023, the former POTUS being charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying records, making him the first president to be arrested after serving office. Though Trump had reportedly tried to keep his sexual relationship with Daniels confidential, actor Seth Rogen claims to have known what happened long before the public ever found out.
Stormy Daniels opened up to Seth Rogen years ago
Seth Rogen and Stormy Daniels may seem to have little in common, but the two were once friends who had worked together on the movies "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" and "Knocked Up." In 2018, soon after the news of Daniels and Trump's affair broke, Rogen admitted he had known about it already during an appearance on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show."
"I've known Stormy Daniels a long time, and I'll be honest, she may have mentioned some of this stuff around 10 years ago," the actor revealed, noting that he wasn't at all surprised when he found out. "At the time, when you ask a porn star who they've been sleeping with and the answer was Donald Trump, it was like the least surprising thing that she could've said."
In another interview on "The Graham Norton Show," Rogen echoed his claims and explained that he briefly considered disclosing what his co-star had told him. "Years later, it became pretty relevant information that I was just stuck there with. And I was like, 'Do I say something? I don't think I should say something! I think it's her place to say something.'"
Stormy Daniels didn't hide the affair from friends
According to Seth Rogen's account on "The Graham Norton Show," he wasn't the only one Stormy Daniels opened up to. Though he didn't name names, the actor shared, "She did tell us that she had a relationship with Donald Trump," possibly referencing others who worked on "Knocked Up" around the time of the affair.
Other people were likely in the loop too. In 2018, Daniels explained, "[Donald Trump] never asked me not to tell anyone. He called several times when I was in front of many people and I would be like, 'Oh my God, he's calling.' They were like, 'Shut up, the Donald?'" In 2011, employees at In Touch magazine had also received details of the sexual encounter between Daniels and Trump, though the publication reportedly chose to not run the story when Trump threatened to take legal action. (They did, however, finally publish their full interview with the porn star in 2018 and noted that one of Daniels' close friends and an ex-husband had supported her claims.)
It's unclear who else may have known about the affair in the years after it happened, though one thing's certain: We all know about it now.