Newspaper identifies Spitzer's 'Kristen'
The woman at the heart of the Eliot Spitzer prostitution scandal is a 22-year-old would-be singer from New Jersey, The New York Times reported Wednesday. The newspaper said that Ashley Youmans -- now known as Ashley Alexandra Dupre -- was identified in court documents as Kristen, the high-priced prostitute who met with Spitzer at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington on February 13. Dupre has not been charged with any crime. She made a brief appearance Monday in U.S. Magistrate Court as a witness against four people charged with operating Emperor's Club VIP, the prostitution ring, the Times said. Spitzer announced his resignation Wednesday as governor of New York, two days after reports of his connection to the Emperors Club VIP emerged. Dupre told the Times she's mostly gone without sleep since the case became public. "I just don't want to be thought of as a monster," Dupre told the newspaper. She revealed little else in the interview, but her MySpace page offered some insight into her background. Dupre writes that she left home and "a broken family" at 17. "Left and learned what it was like to have everything, and lose it, again and again," Dupre says. "Learned what it was like to wake up one day and have the people you care about most gone. I have been alone. I have abused drugs. I have been broke and homeless. But, I survived, on my own. I am here, in NY because of my music." In her profile, Dupre says she moved to Manhattan to pursue her music career. "I am all about my music, and my music is all about me," she writes on her MySpace page. "It flows from what I've been through, what I've seen and how I feel." The page includes a picture of Dupre with the slogan "what destroys me, strengthens me." It also features a song titled "What we want" recorded by Dupre, with lyrics including "I know what you want, you got what I want, I know what you need, can you handle me?" On the MySpace page, Dupre lists singers Etta James, Aretha Franklin and Celine Dion, as well as her brother, as her influences. She also offers some advice for those experiencing hard times. "I made it. I'm still here and I love who I am. If I never went through the hard times, I would not be able to appreciate the good ones," Dupre writes. "Clich |
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