Ashley Alexandra Dupré
Ashley Rae Maika DiPietro (born Ashley Youmans; April 30, 1985),[1] better known by the stage name Ashley Alexandra Dupré,[2] is a former call girl. She gained fame in 2008 for her role as "Kristen" in the Eliot Spitzer prostitution scandal, which led to the resignation of Eliot Spitzer, the governor of New York.[2][3]
Ashley Dupré | |
|---|---|
| Born | Ashley Youmans April 30, 1985 |
| Nationality | American |
| Other names | Ashley DiPietro Kristen |
| Occupation(s) | Call girl, entertainer |
| Known for | Eliot Spitzer prostitution scandal |
| Relatives | Alix Earle (stepdaughter) |
Early life
Dupré spent her early childhood years in Beachwood, New Jersey, a borough near the Jersey Shore. Her father, William Youmans, owned a landscaping business and also worked as a salesman of surfing accessories. When her parents divorced, Dupré moved to Wall Township, New Jersey with her mother, Carolyn Capalbo, and her stepfather, Mike DiPietro, an oral surgeon. There, she attended Old Mill (elementary) School[4] and Wall High School until her sophomore year, when she moved to Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina, to live with her father.[5] On her MySpace page, Dupré described leaving home at age 17 to escape a broken family and abuse,[6] but her aunt, Barbara Youmans of Seaside Heights, denied that Dupré had a difficult childhood. "She never had a bad life when she was growing up. She had the best of everything: bicycles, clothing, O'Neill surf boards. ... She was always dressed to kill and got everything she wanted."[5]
In 2004, at the age of 19, Dupré moved to New York City in pursuit of a music career, and worked as a waitress at a dance club called Viscaya in the Chelsea district. She also worked at the clubs Pink Elephant and Retox.[7] Jason Itzler, who ran a New York escort service called NY Confidential from 2003 to 2005, met Dupré while she was working as a cocktail waitress at the Hotel Gansevoort in 2004. Dupré began working for him on the side, using the alias Victoria. NY Confidential was shut down and Itzler sent to prison by Spitzer's New York State Attorney General's office in 2005.[8][9][10]
In 2006, Dupré changed her legal name from Youmans to her stepfather's name of DiPietro, stating that she regarded him as "the only father I have known."[2] By 2008, Dupré was living in a ninth-floor apartment in the Flatiron District of Manhattan. She maintains that she was concerned about her ability to pay her rent after the man she was living with left following her discovery that he had fathered two children.[2]
Media attention
February 2008 assignation with Spitzer
On February 13, 2008, Dupré travelled by Amtrak from New York's Pennsylvania Station to Washington, D.C., for an assignation at the Mayflower Hotel with New York Governor Eliot Spitzer. The arrangements had been made by phone between Spitzer and a booker at Emperors Club VIP, and were monitored by federal investigators who had initiated a wiretap after his bank had filed a suspicious activity report regarding money transfers by Spitzer to a front company operated by the escort service.[11]
Caught on the FBI's wiretap was Dupré's response to the booker's mention of other escorts' difficulties with Spitzer. "I don't think he's difficult," said Dupré. "I mean it's just kind of like, whatever, I'm here for a purpose. I know what my purpose is. I am not a … moron, you know what I mean."[12]
On March 6, federal authorities arrested four individuals involved with Emperors Club VIP, charging them under federal prostitution and money laundering laws.[13] Initial news reports and court documents did not identify the agency's clients or call girls by name, referring to Spitzer as "Client 9" and to Dupré as "Kristen".[14]
On March 10, The New York Times identified Spitzer as "Client 9."[15] Two days later on March 12, the Times identified Dupré as "Kristen."[2] Her mother, Carolyn Capalbo, told the newspaper that her daughter "was a young kid with typical teenage rebellion issues, but we are extremely close now." Capalbo said she was "shell-shocked" when her daughter called to tell her she had been working as a prostitute.[citation needed]
Dupré's only public comment was a brief interview with The New York Times for the March 12 story that revealed her identity. "I just don't want to be thought of as a monster," Dupré told the newspaper. "This has been a very difficult time. It's complicated."[2] On the day the story broke, she posted a message to her MySpace page that said "Yeah, I did it"; it was later changed to read, "Thank you for your support, it means a lot to me."[5] Dupré uploaded a second song to the Amie Street online music store around 2 a.m. on March 13. On March 14, New York City radio station Z100 played one Dupré song.[16]
Aftermath
Dupré remained in seclusion in the days after her role in the scandal became public, and became the subject of increasingly intense media coverage. The Village Voice called her "the most famous hooker in America",[9]. By March 18, Dupré's profile on MySpace had received over 9 million page views.[17][18] Dupré was reportedly offered US$1 million by Hustler magazine to pose nude, and received offers from Penthouse magazine and Vivid Entertainment.[19]
On March 19, the soft porn website Girls Gone Wild featured teasers of Dupré, shot in Miami Beach, Florida in 2003 before she had turned 18.[1] Dupré presented the company the drivers license of a New Jersey woman named Amber Arpaio,[20][21] claiming it was Dupré's own.[22] Company founder Joe Francis—who served a year in jail for a conviction of child abuse and prostitution involving filming two underaged girls in Panama City, Florida, in 2003 who had represented themselves as adults[23][24]—prepared to release a full DVD of Dupré footage from company archives. "All nude images of Ms. Dupre were taken in public places and contain no sexual contact," said Francis. "In Florida, where Ms. Dupre was filmed, the law allows even women under the age of 18 to be filmed nude with their consent."[21]
Dupré's attorney, Don Buchwald, argued in an e-mail to Girls Gone Wild, "It was because she was underage that [Francis] sent her home on a Greyhound bus back to North Carolina. It would be outrageous at the very least to play the video of an underage female on the Internet."[25]
On April 28, 2008, Dupré filed suit against Francis and two of his companies alleging their exploitation of Dupré's name and image, seeking US$10 million in punitive damages,[26] but in July of that year she decided to drop the suit after Francis released footage showing her agreeing to be filmed.[27][28]
In December 2009, Dupré started writing an advice column in the New York Post called "Ask Ashley".[29] Her last column appeared in May 2012.[30]
In January 2010, Dupré appeared on The Howard Stern Show, where she discussed incidents ranging from her situation as a rape victim to how she preoccupied her mind when engaged in intercourse with men she was not attracted to.[citation needed]
She posed nude for the May 2010 issue of Playboy magazine.[31]
Legal proceedings
On March 15, 2008, Dupré was granted immunity from prosecution by the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York for her role in the Spitzer scandal, in order to testify at court hearings related to the Emperors Club VIP prostitution ring.[32][33]
In July 2008, a woman named Amber Arpaio filed a federal lawsuit against Dupré for defamation and invasion of privacy, claiming Dupré used her lost driver's license to appear on a Girls Gone Wild video. Arpaio also sued Girls Gone Wild founder Joe Francis.[34]
Music career
| "Unspoken Words" | |
|---|---|
| Single by Ashley Dupré | |
| A-side | "What We Want" |
| B-side | "Move Ya Body" |
| Released | March 2008 |
| Genre | Dance-pop, R&B |
| Length | 3:07 3:27 |
| Label | Unsigned |
| Songwriter(s) | Nina Venetta a.k.a. Ashley Dupré |
| Producer(s) | Simon Ella for Unbreakable Music Group |
Dupré began singing professionally when Jerry Cooper, a musician she was living with, heard her singing the Aretha Franklin version of the song "Respect" in the shower. "She had this huge voice for such a little girl," Cooper told MTV, "and so I just kind of went in and said, 'Hey, come upstairs when you're done with this, and let's work on some songs.'"[35] According to Dupré, she then toured and recorded with Cooper's band, networking with people in the music industry.[2][6] In 2005, she formed a company named Pasche New York, an entertainment business intended to promote her music career.[2]
In the summer of 2006, she made an appearance in a music video for the song "Pop Off", performed by rapper Mysterious.[36]
Shortly after The New York Times published their profile of Dupré, her single "Move Ya Body" set a record for how fast it commanded the top price on the music-download site AmieStreet.com, reaching the site's maximum of US$0.98 per download in five hours.[33][37] Another single, "What We Want", was played more than 3 million times on the Internet after the scandal erupted.[33] While some speculated that she may have earned as much as US$300,000–1.4 million from download sales of her singles on Amie Street,[38] others estimated her earnings at as low as US$13,720.[39] Dupré's music came to be featured in mash up YouTube videos, blending her tracks with those of established artists.[40][41]
Television career
On July 7, 2008, E! reported that Dupré was engaged in talks about a proposed reality show with Handprint Entertainment, the same firm that managed the reality television careers of Nicole Richie and Pamela Anderson, and that she was considering a move from New York to Los Angeles. One of the concepts reportedly being considered was a dating program similar to A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila.[42] Dupré will reportedly be working with the production company Reveille Productions (responsible for the TV shows The Office and The Biggest Loser) to create a reality dating show based on the theme that everyone has skeletons in their closet.[43]
Dupré appeared on 20/20 on Friday, November 21, 2008, where she was interviewed by Diane Sawyer about her feelings about being an "escort," and the emotional effect it had upon her when the encounter with Spitzer was made public.[44][45][46]
On July 10, 2011, VH1 premiered Famous Food, a reality series featuring seven celebrities. Dupré came in third; first and second were given a partnership stake in the Lemon Basket.[47]
Personal life
In 2013, Dupré married New Jersey construction magnate Thomas "TJ" Earle, the father of social media influencer Alix Earle.[48]
References
- ^ a b "Ashley Dupre Gone "Wild" – Legal or Jailbait?". TMZ. March 19, 2008. from the original on March 24, 2011. Retrieved March 19, 2008.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Kovaleski, Serge; Urbina, Ian (March 13, 2008). "For an Aspiring Singer, a Harsher Spotlight". The New York Times. from the original on November 19, 2011. Retrieved March 16, 2008.
- ^ Gaskell, Stephanie; Hutchinson, Bill (March 13, 2008). . Daily News. Archived from the original on March 18, 2008. Retrieved March 16, 2008.
- ^ Gov pays the price, Asbury Park Press, March 13, 20. Retrieved: May 14, 2008[dead link]
- ^ a b c Fabiano, Giovanna (March 14, 2008). . The Record. Archived from the original on March 18, 2008. Retrieved March 16, 2008.
- ^ a b Dupré, Ashley. "Ashley Alexandra Dupré". MySpace. from the original on November 29, 2010. Retrieved March 16, 2008.
- ^ Evans, Sean; Lemire, Jonathan (March 15, 2008). "Friends: 'Kristen' Partied with Cocaine". Daily News. from the original on May 30, 2010. Retrieved March 16, 2008.
- ^ Evans, Sean; McShane, Larry (March 14, 2008). "She Came to N.Y. Looking for Record Deal Instead She Got Hooker Ring Offer". Daily News. from the original on March 6, 2009. Retrieved March 16, 2008.
- ^ a b Clancy, Michael (March 14, 2008). . Runnin' Scared. The Village Voice. Archived from the original on March 25, 2010. Retrieved March 16, 2008.
- ^ Jacobson, Mark (March 16, 2008). "Secrets of the Megapimps". New York. from the original on December 19, 2010. Retrieved March 18, 2008.
- ^ Feuer, Alan; Urbina, Ian (March 11, 2008). "Affidavit: Client 9 and Room 871". The New York Times. Retrieved March 16, 2008.
- ^ Rashbaum, William K. (March 12, 2008). "Ashley Alexandra Dupré". Times Topics. The New York Times. from the original on March 17, 2008. Retrieved March 19, 2008.
- ^ Feuer, Alan (March 7, 2008). "Four Charged With Running Online Prostitution Ring". The New York Times. from the original on May 15, 2012. Retrieved March 19, 2008.
- ^ United States of America v. Mark Brener, Cecil Suwal, Temeka Rachelle Lewis, and Tanya Hollander (pdf). United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. March 5, 2008. Federal complaint. January 15, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Hakim, Danny; Rashbaum, William K. (March 10, 2008). "Spitzer Is Linked to Prostitution Ring". The New York Times. from the original on March 12, 2008. Retrieved March 19, 2008.
- ^ Advertising Age Archived January 16, 2013, at archive.today
- ^ Wee, Gillian (March 18, 2008). "Penthouse, Flynt Offer 'Kristen' Millions as Spitzer Makes Exit". Bloomberg.com. Archived from the original on January 19, 2013. Retrieved March 21, 2008.
- ^ Oliver, Rochelle (March 21, 2008). "Prostitute Makes Lemonade from Lemons". South Florida Times. from the original on July 16, 2011. Retrieved March 21, 2008.
- ^ "Prostitute in Spitzer Scandal Scores Million Dollar Offer to Bare All". Access Hollywood. March 14, 2008. from the original on December 3, 2008. Retrieved March 16, 2008.
- ^ Mendelsohn, Aline (March 19, 2003). . Orlando Sentinel. Archived from the original on December 27, 2008. Retrieved March 20, 2008.
- ^ a b "Photos show woman identified as Ashley Dupre at 'Girls Gone Wild' party". Orlando Sentinel. March 19, 2008. from the original on May 23, 2011. Retrieved March 21, 2008.
- ^ Woman: Spitzer Hooker Stole My Identity – July 17, 2008 April 20, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Girls Gone Wild Founder Avoids Going to Jail". St. Petersburg Times. The Associated Press. April 1, 2007. from the original on May 23, 2011. Retrieved March 24, 2008.
- ^ Anderson, Curt (April 29, 2008). . Associated Press. Archived from the original on March 13, 2009. Retrieved May 29, 2008.
- ^ "Spitzer Girl Ashley Alexandra Dupre 17 at Time of 'Girls Gone Wild' Video". Daily News. Associated Press. March 20, 2008. from the original on March 11, 2010. Retrieved March 22, 2008.
- ^ Dagostino, Mark (April 28, 2008). "Ashley Dupré Sues Joe Francis". People. Crimes & Courts. from the original on February 9, 2011. Retrieved May 14, 2008.
- ^ Haberman, Lia (October 15, 2007). "The Hum: Joe Francis off the Hook". E! Online. from the original on October 16, 2007. Retrieved October 15, 2007.
- ^ Brown, Tom (July 3, 2008). "Call Girl in Spitzer Case Drops "Gone Wild" Suit". Reuters.
- ^ "Ask Ashley Dupre: Girl Who Bedded Eliot Spitzer Answers Questions on Sex, Love and Relationships". New York Post. December 13, 2009. Retrieved May 31, 2010.
- ^ "Ask Ashley: Hit Us, Ashley, One Last Time". New York Post. May 27, 2012.
- ^ Weiner, David (April 14, 2010). "Ashley Dupre Playboy Photos Leaked: Pictures of Spitzer Call Girl Surface". The Huffington Post. from the original on April 27, 2010. Retrieved May 31, 2010.
- ^ Hinckley, David (March 11, 2008). . Daily News. Associated Press. Archived from the original on March 17, 2008. Retrieved January 19, 2023.
- ^ a b c Wee, Gillian (March 15, 2008). . Bloomberg News. Archived from the original on October 20, 2012. Retrieved January 19, 2023.
- ^ . CNN. Newark, New Jersey. Associated Press. July 18, 2008. Archived from the original on July 21, 2008. Retrieved January 19, 2023.
- ^ Bardsley, Garth (March 17, 2008). "Ashley Alexandra Dupre, Eliot Spitzer's Companion: Check Out Her First Recording Session!: 'She's going to come out on top,' ex-boyfriend predicts". MTV News. from the original on March 21, 2008. Retrieved March 18, 2008.
- ^ . MyFox New York. March 14, 2008. Archived from the original on March 18, 2008. Retrieved March 16, 2008.
- ^ Lemire, Jonathan (March 15, 2008). "Hooker's an online hit – to tune of $200G". Daily News. from the original on March 18, 2008. Retrieved March 16, 2008.
- ^ Sklar, Rachel (March 14, 2008). "Millionaire Call Girl? Spitzer's Hooker Rakes In A Fortune Online From Her Music". The Huffington Post. from the original on March 18, 2008. Retrieved March 16, 2008.
- ^ Kafka, Peter (March 17, 2008). . Silicon Alley Insider. Archived from the original on March 18, 2008. Retrieved March 17, 2008.
- ^ . Music Nation. March 18, 2008. Archived from the original on March 21, 2008. Retrieved March 20, 2008.
- ^ Wall Street Journal: Buzzwatch
- ^ Donnelly, Matt; Rosenbaum, Claudia (July 7, 2008). "Ashley Dupré: Girl Gone Hollywood?". E!. from the original on July 15, 2008. Retrieved July 9, 2008.
- ^ Track, Inside (July 17, 2008). . Gossip. Boston Herald. Archived from the original on March 13, 2009. Retrieved July 18, 2008.
- ^ Launier, Kimberly; Escherich, Katie (November 19, 2008). "Ashley Dupré Exclusive: 'My Side of the Story'". ABC News. from the original on November 22, 2008. Retrieved November 22, 2008.
- ^ "Ashley Dupres opens up to Diane Sawyer (Part 1)". ABC News Video. November 21, 2008. Retrieved November 22, 2008.
- ^ "Ashley Dupres opens up to Diane Sawyer (Part 2)". ABC News Video. November 21, 2008. Retrieved November 23, 2008.
- ^ . VH1. Archived from the original on June 28, 2011.
- ^ Moore, Julia (August 9, 2023). "Who Is Alix Earle? All About the Viral TikTok Sensation". People Magazine. Retrieved August 13, 2023.