Stormy Daniels blames Celebrity Big Brother withdrawal on custody issue

Stormy Daniels has blamed her last-minute decision to pull out of an appearance on Channel 5’s Celebrity Big Brother on a “custody development” involving her child.

The adult film star, whose allegations of an affair with Donald Trump have dogged the US president, was to appear as the high-profile guest star on the long-running reality TV series.

Despite enormous pre-launch publicity around her supposed appearance on the programme – and the substantial fee she was allegedly to receive from Channel 5 – she failed to appear when the lineup was unveiled in a live broadcast on Thursday night.

Daniels was then booked to appear on ITV’s Loose Women on Friday afternoon to explain what happened, but again failed to appear on screen despite making it to the studio on time.

Instead, the Loose Women panellist Jane Moore recounted a backstage conversation with Daniels that had taken place while the show was on air.

According to Moore, Daniels said “being a mother comes first” and that she had no choice but to return to the US to deal with a matter relating to her seven-year-old daughter.

Daniels allegedly blamed a new development in her divorce proceedings and insisted she had offered to explain this to Celebrity Big Brother viewers.

“She said: ‘I will go on the live show when they are introducing everyone, I will explain why I’m not going into the house,’” Moore said. “They said we don’t want you to do any of it. It has now become a legal situation, lawyers are talking to lawyers.”

Several newspapers claimed Daniels had made last-minute demands for an increased appearance fee before refusing to appear on the show.

“She has been told she can’t come on and talk to us,” Moore said. “She says also that the stories about her asking for more money are complete rubbish. She’s very angry. She feels that she’s had her power taken away from her.”

Asked whether anyone in the US had paid Daniels not to appear on the show, Moore said Daniels had told herit was “not about money”.

Channel 5 initially said it “categorically denied” the account of events described on Loose Women. The channel later issued a statement confirming Daniels had pulled out at the last minute.

“Stormy Daniels was booked to appear on the show several months ago and hours before the show was due to go live informed the production team that she no longer wished to enter the house as previously agreed,” it said.

“Producers discussed a variety of options with her but were unable to agree any acceptable conditions for her entering the house. Our focus is now on making a brilliant series with our fantastic celebrities.”