Ashley Dupre Interview: "I Have A Lot Of Depth"

People:

She was the tabloid sensation at the center of the sex scandal that brought down New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer. But in her very first interview, Ashley Alexandra Dupré tells PEOPLE, "I am a normal girl."

"Everyone knows me as 'that girl,' but I'm not just 'that girl,' " the 23-year-old former escort says in the new issue of PEOPLE, on sale Friday. "I have a lot of depth, a lot of layers."

Enduring a media spotlight that included seeing her MySpace photos splashed on front pages "has been really hard," the New Jersey native explains. "But I'm a survivor."

Her descent into tabloid mayhem began the night of Feb. 13, 2008, when Dupré - who had worked as a high-end escort to help pay the bills on and off since 2004 - met a client who turned out to be the Governor of New York.

Dupré claims she had no idea who the man was that night, recalling that he was a "polite" client who didn't want a lot of chit-chat. In fact, she didn't find out who he was until March when, just days after learning she was mixed up in some sort of FBI investigation, she saw the Spitzer apologizing on TV. "It was surreal," Dupré says of seeing the client she had met a month before. "I felt like I was sinking."

Read the whole story: People

Comments

[Sparty1]

The above picture doesn't look good at all for a high priced hooker. I would've bought her dinner and drinks, but that's about it.

[johnnygoodwud]

before leaving the limelight, she's cashing in with interviews, mag. covers. etc. wouldn't you? as far as why a girl from an upper middle class family winds up in that bus. it probably wasn't about the money, probably some other 'issues' with her family.

[dollyblue]

Not so fast - she still has dreams of stardom. She thinks she's going to have a music career. Who would take her seriously after everyone knows that Eliot Spitzer plumbed those alleged "depths" of hers?

[petalpusher]

They won't take her seriously, the same way no one really takes Jessica Hahn seriously, or even Paris Hilton. The question is, I guess- if that's something she really cares about.

[dollyblue]

Her "music" is awful. She needed to just hang it up and fade away.

[gttim]

The pics are not that hot. The eyes look funny. Just another girl slathered in make-up.

[Strappo]

she looks cross-eyed, no? in my old school that would have got her banished to the wallflower group.

[petalpusher]

I agree, she's certainly not ugly, but "hot" is kind of a stretch. She does look cross-eyed.

[lippp]

Now just think how much tax the Fed. Govt. could get if Ashley and her colleagues were allowed to legally continue in their career of choice. She would be contributing to her social security. And the govt. could allocate a portion of her taxes to support programs helping those ladies of the evening to transition out of this line of work if they so choose. In the meantime, these ladies would be tested regularly and the pimps virtually eliminated. Holland has done this quite successfully lowering the STD rate dramatically as a result. When, oh when, will we be sophisticated enough to implement such common sense policies and programs in this country. Not until the Religious Wrong (formerly the Religious Right) get out of our govenment.

[brooklyncitizen]

You must be male.

[DutchExpat2008]

I am in Holland and most females believe that also.

Of course they are intelligen­t........s­omething rare to find in the USA.

[Eurolitist]

I'm from the Netherland­s(Holland)­. In our country prostitution is legal and generally accepted. The result is that aid workers can do a whole lot more to help potential victims and make sure that safe sex is practiced.

There is nothing wrong with prostitution as long as it is done under consent. Its just a business deal, instead of renting your mind, like a marketing manager does, you rent your body.

Of course, that doesn't mean there aren't problems in the trade. Naturally in order for prostitution not to be harmful it is obvious that it must be done under the full consent of an adult person. Forced prostitution or abuse is something which should be combatted.

In Holland, while prostitution is legal, pimping is not, and pimps are actively pursued and brought to justice by the police.

[Eurolitist]

(continued)

The biggest problems with prostitutes in the Netherlands are not with the legal prostitutes. In general, they are known to pay their taxes and practice safe sex. The major problems in our country is from illegal prostitutes. Yes even if you legalise prostitution you will still see illegal prostitutes. These are mostly foreigners without legal papers or drug addicts that do not want to pay their taxes. Aside from the fact that they don't pay their taxes they are in general a lot cheaper then legal prostitutes (and hence force legal prostitutes to either go illegal in order to compete or have little to no income after tax. They are also known to practice unsafe sex on a large scale and in many cases the illegal prostitutes are forced or sometimes even minors.

Personally (and you can accuse me of being a male all you want) I think its absurd to not legalise prostitution. There is realisticially nothing wrong with a business transaction between an adult that is looking for physical and erotic entertainment and an consenting adult willing to provide it.

That being said, abuses in the "trade", like force, unsafe sex, threath of violence, etc, should be actively pursued and combatted, with high punishment for the perpetrators.

[EarthToZoey]

I'm female and I think prostitution should be legal. The oldest profession should be taken out of the dark and dangerous alleys and into the light where it can be regulated and the women protected.

Give me good reason why it should remain illegal and I may consider otherwise.

[bikerdude]

I wish the press and politicians could leave their person prejudices aside and turn Spitzer loose on that gang of incompetent thieves on Wall Street and in Treasury.

[BeatrixK]

A lot of depth. Oh, I love a good laugh to start out the day!

[nootrope]

Of course she's going to be selling her body to make ends meet. It's called "marriage."

[petalpusher]

I think it's kind of sad that lots of people look at marriage that way. Those people who do so shouldn't get married then.

[ofcoursejesusisblack]

Agreed. They are giving marriage a bad name.

[iamasocialist]

who wouldn't pay for that if can't get it the right way! hot.

[Samirah1368]

I don't understand how people who want to get back to their normal life appear on a magazine cover talking about their sexual relationship (paid or not) I want to shake the hand of the first woman caught in a scandal who says no forever to an interview...to go on with her life in private without trying to clear up mistakes or drudge up sympathy...just one woman in the 21st century that does not crave an interview

[bikerdude]

You won't be able to shake her hand because you won't know who she is...Anonymity and all that...

[DaOne]

fade to black

[b-rad81]

she's hot.

[skatscan]

Looks like a man baby!

[we-r-doomed]

Just what I was going to say

[Whitehouse]

I'm sure she has a lot of depth. I'm sure she reads Walt Whitman while living in New Jersey. I read the story and I'm sorry I did because there's no "there" there.

[mamacat]

Prostitution is more common than we might like to think.

[brooklyncitizen]

Oldest profession.

Lots of educated young women are "escorts"....NYC living is expensive.
There's also a disconnect between making the money and the effect this lifestyle has on your psyche and soul.

[Strappo]

I'm not sure I buy your logic.

New York is expensive.

Young women turn tricks to make money.

Ergo "MANY" young women in New York are whores.