--- description: Stormy Daniels' highly anticipated interview on 60 Minutes delivered CBS the highest ratings for the show in years. title: The Stormy Daniels Interview Gave '60 Minutes' Its Highest Ratings in Years image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbc82f034a71b99d6/69892bf997cdffd5e76b4c6e/gettyimages-9366137921.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Politics](/section/politics/) ## Politics Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Television](/tag/television/) ## Television Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # The Stormy Daniels Interview Gave '60 Minutes' Its Highest Ratings in Years by [Maya Rhodan](/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 26, 2018 3:55 PM CUT by [Maya Rhodan](/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 26, 2018 3:55 PM CUT Stormy Daniels’ [highly anticipated interview on _60 Minutes_](http://time.com/5215078/stormy-daniels-donald-trump-threat/ "undefined") delivered CBS the highest ratings for the show in years, with early numbers indicating that more viewers tuned in than have in about a decade. Preliminary numbers from Nielsen show that ratings nearly doubled when compared to the week before, [_Deadline_](http://deadline.com/2018/03/stormy-daniels-biggest-60-minutes-ratings-since-barack-obama-michelle-post-election-20008-1202353291/ "undefined") reports, with more than 20 million people watching. And it appears to be the highest-rated _60 Minutes_ episode since Barack Obama and Michelle Obama appeared on the program after his historic win in the 2008 presidential race. Ratings set to be released later on Monday will paint a fuller picture. Viewers tuned in to get details of the porn actress’ claim that she had an affair with Trump years ago and later accepted a $130,000 payment in the days before the 2016 election to stay silent. During the interview, Daniels said she was threatened to keep quiet about the affair by an anonymous stranger. “A guy walked up on me and said to me, ‘Leave Trump alone. Forget the story,’” [Daniels told Anderson Cooper](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/stormy-daniels-describes-her-alleged-affair-with-donald-trump-60-minutes-interview/ "undefined"). “And then he leaned around and looked at my daughter and said, ‘That’s a beautiful little girl. It’d be a shame if something happened to her mom.’ And then he was gone.” The interview came on the heels of an overtime NCAA tournament game, which likely bolstered viewership further. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5215421/stormy-daniels-60-minutes-ratings/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5215421/stormy-daniels-60-minutes-ratings/"},"headline":"The Stormy Daniels Interview Gave '60 Minutes' Its Highest Ratings in Years","datePublished":"2018-03-26T15:55:32.000Z","dateModified":"2026-06-24T06:56:42.264Z","description":"The porn star says she had an affair with Donald Trump","url":"https://time.com/5215421/stormy-daniels-60-minutes-ratings/","keywords":["Television","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbc82f034a71b99d6/69892bf997cdffd5e76b4c6e/gettyimages-9366137921.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbc82f034a71b99d6/69892bf997cdffd5e76b4c6e/gettyimages-9366137921.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"60 Minutes","caption":"60 Minutes","creditText":"CBS Photo Archive—CBS via Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/television/","name":"Television"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5215421/stormy-daniels-60-minutes-ratings/","name":"The Stormy Daniels Interview Gave '60 Minutes' Its Highest Ratings in Years"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"This Video Is No Longer Available","description":"The porn star says she had an affair with Donald Trump","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/fKodeUO6/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2026-06-23T15:00:44.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/fKodeUO6.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5215421/stormy-daniels-60-minutes-ratings/","duration":"PT10S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5215421/stormy-daniels-60-minutes-ratings/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```