Ashley Alexandra Dupre on The Huffington Post

Meredith C. Carroll: Revisiting Misstressed Opportunities

2009-10-15T12:02:56Z

It recently came to my attention that opportunity once knocked on my door but unfortunately I was upstairs at the time taking a nap with a pillow over my head.

In light of the David Letterman extortion incident, it dawned on me that at an earlier time in my life I should have tried and might have had a chance to become an Other Woman. And not just any Other Woman (because I have standards), but the Young Other Woman in a high profile sex scandal.

After every possible intimate, shocking and creepy detail of each sensational nooky story du jour is recited over and over for weeks and weeks on the nightly cable TV shows, the men involved always go back to doing what they did before (except for the ones who are occasionally shipped off to prison or forcibly shamed into resigning).

But the Young Other Woman's life is never the same. She becomes eminently unemployable by traditional means. While she vows to keep her head up, mouth shut, legs closed and return to work at her entry-level desk job, the whispers at the water cooler of her harlot-like ways eventually grow too loud and she becomes too emotionally drained to maintain a 9-5 office existence.

So instead she sells her story to the highest bidder among the weekly tabloids, takes it all off for the right price in one of the monthly skin magazines, fights in a celebrity boxing match, appears on a schlocky reality TV show or practices law with the degree she was able to earn because the high-profile married man with whom she was involved paid the tuition bills. In fact, if she plays her cards right, post-scandal she'll only have to work a handful of days in her life (which is key because, seriously -- who's going to hire a lawyer who can't even ensure the contents of her own diary remain confidential?).

My best shot at being the Young Other Woman came and went in the mid 1990s. For a short time I did some side work as a personal assistant to a cast member on Saturday Night Live. As part of the gig, it was necessary for me to be involved in almost all aspects of his life, including spending time at his apartment with his wife and baby. I'd be kicking myself now for having missed out on the chance to be a (retired) star in my own right if I hadn't since learned that he's gay.

If only Monica Lewinsky had made a name for herself a few years before that, I could have had the perfect role model. After all, Monica and I are the same age, attended good colleges, have loving parents. Like Monica, my people know people. My cousins have cousins who know people. In fact, I'm sure if I tried I could have been a White House intern, too. And with enough liquid courage and the right G-string, I totally could have out-Monica-ed Monica. (Although I would have been classy enough to destroy the blue dress or at least bright enough sell it before it was seized as evidence.)

Prior to that, emulating the Long Island Lolita, Amy Fisher, might have been an extraordinary option for me. (Never mind that I grew up on the other side of the Long Island Sound in Westchester County, where it's safe to say there aren't too many Joey Buttafuoco-types. He's 100 percent Long Island.) I'm sure my aim with a pistol would have been bad enough to maim but not kill, too. And 17 years later, Amy's still making money on her notoriety, whether it's through "stolen" sex tapes, starring in her own pay-per-view movies or performing regularly at a strip club. Some girls have all the luck.

Had I been on the receiving end of former Idaho Sen. Larry Craig's toe tapping (forgetting that it's pretty clear I'm not his type), I would have tap-tap-tapped right back and then type-type-typed it up into a tell-all tome (with the help of a ghost writer, of course).

And where has South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford's Argentine girlfriend been hiding? Does she think she's better than all the other Young Other Women by remaining silent on the affair? Such a waste. Former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer's bimbo got it all wrong, too, by charging up front and not realizing the real money comes at the back end. Rookie mistake.

But all Young Other Women, aspiring and otherwise, can take a page from Rielle Hunter's playbook (although she's not so Young). She did and is still doing everything she can, including getting knocked up and hanging around like bad case of the clap, until she can morbidly move up to John Edwards' first lady status with Dave Matthews as her wedding band. While she's clearly one in a million, a girl can dream.

Jackie Selebi, Former Interpol Head, Denies Corruption Charges

2009-10-05T09:34:10Z

South Africa's former chief of police Jackie Selebi has pleaded not guilty at the start of his corruption trial.

Ashley Dupre Invited To, Then Uninvited From Tommy Hilfiger Party

2009-09-20T10:07:24Z

It's bros before hos for buddies Russell Simmons and Tommy Hilfiger. After Hilfiger told the Def Jam founder that Russell's new pal Ashley Dupre was unwelcome at Tommy's Fashion Week party at the Jane Hotel, Simmons disinvited Eliot Spitzer's call girl,

Ashley Dupre, Spitzer Call Girl, Lashes Out At Critics, Book Publishers

2009-09-03T10:19:13Z

Ashley Dupre, the call girl entangled in former-Gov. Eliot Spitzer's sex scandal, lashes out at critics and the media in a new blog post on Global Grind.

Dupre writes that while she's happy that Spitzer, who will be an adjunct professor at City College in the fall, is seemingly moving on with his life, she has been unable erase the stain of scandal from her own name.

The struggling singer claims not have "made a dime" on the affair, and takes the publishers who had offered her book deals, only to rescind them, to task:

Did this hit too close to home for you because your husband cheated on you with an escort? I will write the book regardless and do it for the right reasons.

Dupre also takes issue with being called "the woman who brought down the Governor," saying:

I didn't call the tabloids, I didn't blow the whistle and I didn't save "the dress." I did nothing to shine a light on my indiscretions or to "out" anyone else.

Dupre started blogging for Global Grind after becoming friendly with Russell Simmons, who helped create the site, and whom Dupre considers a "mentor."

Meanwhile Spitzer, who has been rumored to be considering a return to politics, has recently been edging back into the spotlight with television appearances and an outing to a Yankees game with wife Silda.

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Confessions Of Eliot Spitzer: Newsweek

2009-04-19T08:36:26Z

There is no success so exquisite as the kind you find in Manhattan and no disgrace so excruciating as the kind you find on Manhattan's Upper East Side. Residents of the rarefied blocks north of the Plaza Hotel and east of Central Park marvel at the smallness of their neighborhood, how each day they run into friends--strolling through the park, marching down the wide avenues, sitting in thewell-lit restaurants. This familiarity is a comfort to the neighborhood's better sorts, the knowledge that most anyone they know, most anyone who matters, might be about to round the corner. For pariahs, it is torture, a torture they have no choice but to endure. They can hole up in the country for the weekend ... but the children must go to school. They can send the laundry out, they can order food in ... but even the airiest apartments turn stuffy after a while. Eventually, they have to go out, onto the street.

Eliot Spitzer NY Attorney General Run Planned For 2010: NY Post

2009-04-14T13:58:48Z

BEHIND Eliot Spitzer's flaccid attempt at re-erecting his public persona is a plan to run for state attorney general in 2010, sources told Page Six.

After launching a column on Slate.com, and giving interviews to National Public Radio and the "Today" show, the sources say, the disgraced former governor told friends: "My record as governor was disappointing, but the voters will remember my excellent two terms as attorney general."

Ex-Hooker Ashley Dupre: Loving Yoga, Working On "Pop Rock" Album

2009-03-11T08:18:55Z

Former Gov. Eliot Spitzer's infamous $4,000-an-hour escort credits the yoga classes she's been taking for the better part of the past year with "saving her life."

"The past year has obviously been very difficult for me," Dupre tells Page Six's Neel Shah. "Yoga has really helped me turn it into a huge learning experience. I'm working hard to take what I went through and turn it into something positive. Yoga helps me focus."

The 5-foot-1 brunette has even made a new friend. "Russell Simmons and I have been going to the same class, and he's just an amazing and wonderful person and spirit," Dupre says of the rap impresario and Def Jam co-founder. "He's become a mentor, and has helped me work through my issues. I feel liberated and honored that people like him support me. I'm starting to feel respected for who I am."

Spitzer Wiretaps Made Public By Court Order

2009-02-19T15:28:27Z

NEW YORK — The government must release sealed documents that could reveal new details about the origins and scope of the prostitution investigation that brought down former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer, a judge ordered Thursday.

U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff wrote in federal court in Manhattan that the documents, which were FBI applications for wiretaps, should be unsealed "given the strong and obvious public interest in disclosure." He ordered them released by Tuesday.

Ashley Dupre's Presence Gets Fashion Publicist Fired

2009-02-15T09:59:56Z

Ashley Dupre may be a hooker with a heart of gold, but designer Yigal Azrouël didn't want her at his show. Azrouël was so upset with Eliot Spitzer's infamous call girl perching in his Fall/Winter 2009 front row seats, that he fired front-of-house PR company People's Revolution.

A no-nonsense, late night press release announced the news: "Following the showing of his Fall Winter 2009 Collection, Yigal Azrouël has decided to fire front-of-house PR Company, People's Revolution, for mismanagement."

Philippines: Local Farmers Battle Agribusiness Corporations Over Aerial Spraying Case

2008-12-23T16:35:07Z

MANILA, Dec 23 (IPS) - Cecilia Moran never thought that she would one day have to give up farming owing to poor health. She grew up helping her father tend a family-owned plot in Davao province. The sale of such produce as rice, corn, coconut and durian in the local market took care of family needs.

A few months ago, after being weakened by tuberculosis, Moran retired from farming. Her illness, Moran said, was brought on by constant exposure to aerial spraying with toxic pesticides.

Ashley Dupre Named "Other Woman" In $1.5M Sex Suit

2008-12-20T10:02:19Z

Call girl Ashley Dupre, who toppled Eliot Spitzer from office, is the "other woman" in a $1.5 million suit filed by a model who says her lawyer boyfriend dumped her for the raven-haired hooker.

In a suit filed in Suffolk County Supreme Court, K.T. Mary Dunphy says her ex-fiancé, Robert Oppenheimer Jr., cheated with Dupre while Dunphy was pregnant in the summer of 2007.

Dunphy told the Daily News she walked in on Oppenheimer having sex with Dupre at his Manhattan apartment.

Was Government Out To Get Eliot Spitzer? Congressional Panel To Investigate

2008-11-25T17:28:26Z

ALBANY - Eight months after a federal investigation into a prostitution ring brought about the downfall of Gov. Eliot Spitzer, the question still persists in some circles: Was the federal government out to get Mr. Spitzer?

No evidence has surfaced to support such an assertion, and investigators have said that politics played no role in their pursuit of Mr. Spitzer. But that has not put to rest suspicions, expressed on left wing blogs, that Mr. Spitzer, a zealous pursuer of Wall Street wrongdoing who some thought could one day be president, had been singled out.

Ashley Dupre's Diane Sawyer Interview (VIDEO)

2008-11-21T12:44:12Z

via ABC:

The young woman at the center of the historic downfall of the governor of New York is finally speaking out.

Ashley Dupré, the 23-year-old former escort who was the target of intense media scrutiny in the days after Gov. Eliot Spitzer's resignation from public office, has stepped forward to give her first television interview. Dupré told ABC News' Diane Sawyer that she does not feel responsible for Spitzer's downfall.

"If it wasn't me, it would have been someone else," she said. "I was doing my job. I don't feel that I brought him down."

WATCH:

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

2008-11-19T07:33:44Z

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."

Ashley Alexandra Dupre Sits Down With Diane Sawyer

2008-11-18T15:35:34Z

NEW YORK — The prostitute at the center of the scandal that brought down former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer has apologized to his wife.

Ashley Alexandra Dupre tells People magazine that the FBI informed her in early March that it was investigating one of her clients. A few days later, she found out which client when she recognized Spitzer on TV _ resigning.

Diane Sawyer Lands Ashley Dupre, Eliot Spitzer's Hooker

2008-11-15T09:36:53Z

Ashley Dupre, Eliot Spitzer's paid-for paramour, has spilled her guts to ABC News' Diane Sawyer.

But she didn't exactly tell all.

Sawyer interviewed the New Jersey runaway who became a high-priced hooker, it was confirmed Friday - but it's unlikely there will be any details about her dalliance with the former governor.

"People who think this is all about Eliot Spitzer are going to be disapointed," an insider said. "Diane has done extensive reporting on prostitution. This is another chapter in that reporting."

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Spitzer Won't Face Charges

2008-11-06T15:25:04Z

NEW YORK — Federal prosecutors said Thursday that they will not bring criminal charges against Eliot Spitzer for his role in a prostitution scandal, removing a legal cloud that has surrounded the former New York governor since his epic downfall eight months ago.

U.S. Attorney Michael Garcia said investigators found no evidence that Spitzer or his office misused public or campaign funds for prostitution. Investigators found that Spitzer solicited high-priced call girls, but federal prosecutors typically do not prosecute clients of prostitution rings.

Inside Ashley Dupre's Rise To Prostitution Fame: A Book Excerpt

2008-09-21T09:23:29Z

In August 2004, NATALIE McLENNAN was working for and dating now-convicted pimp Jason Itzler when he auditioned and recruited a 19-year-old named Ashley Dupre into his high-end prostitution ring, New York Confidential. In her forthcoming book, "The Price: My Rise and Fall as Natalia, New York's #1 Escort," McLennan recalls how she befriended and groomed Ashley - a New Jersey girl with dreams of being the next Mariah Carey - into one of the city's hottest call girls. In this excerpt, McLennan reveals Dupre's sex- and drug-fueled days and nights - raking in piles of cash, dancing in clubs and sidling up to celebrities - before she ended up in bed with Gov. Eliot Spitzer and became famous the wrong way.

'NATALIA, get in a cab," said the voice on the other end of the phone. "I've just met the most beautiful girl I've ever seen in my life."

Typical Jason Itzler tact.

He was my pimp, and I was an escort, and, yes, I know that for most people we were living in some sort of beyond-good-andevil, bizarro world where normal morality and feelings don't apply, but just suspend your disbelief for a minute.

I feigned enthusiasm, "Really? That's so cool."

When I arrived, Jason brought me into the lobby of a hotel and told me to check out a girl working behind the desk.

He had just given this girl, Ashley he said her name was, one of his metal business cards - silver, razor-thin and reading "New York Confidential: Rocket Fuel for Winners."

I had to hand it to him: She was hot.