She left a broken home on the Jersey Shore at 17 and came to New York City to work the nightclubs as a rhythm-and-blues singer. Now, at 22, she is the unwitting star of the seamy drama that is the downfall of Gov. Eliot Spitzer.
“Kristen,” the high-priced prostitute described in a federal affidavit as having a Feb. 13 rendezvous with Spitzer at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, has spent recent days in her rental in an upscale apartment building in Manhattan’s Flatiron district. On Monday, she made a brief appearance in federal court as a witness in the case against four people charged with operating the prostitution ring, Emperors Club VIP.
In a series of telephone interviews Tuesday night, she said she had slept very little over the past week due to the stress from the case. “I just don’t want to be thought of as a monster,” the woman said as she told her story.
Born Ashley Youmans but now known as Ashley Alexandra Dupre, she spoke softly and with good humor.
She has not been charged. The lawyer appointed to represent her, Don Buchwald, told a magistrate in court on Monday that she had been subpoenaed to testify in a grand jury investigation.
A person with knowledge of the Emperors Club operation confirmed the woman interviewed by The New York Times alias was Kristen. Music is her first love, and on her MySpace page, Dupre mentions Patsy Cline, Frank Sinatra and Lauryn Hill among a list of influences.
She left “a broken family” at age 17, having been abused, according to the MySpace page, and has used drugs, “been broke and homeless.”
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In the affidavit, the woman is described as “an American, petite, very pretty brunette, 5 feet 5 inches, and 105 pounds.” She apparently was booked at about $1,000-an-hour, placing her in the middle of the scale by which Emperors’ prostitutes commanded up to $5,500 an hour.
“She is a very bright girl who can handle someone like the governor,” said her mother, Carolyn Capalbo, 46.