Photographs from Ashley Alexandre Dupre's MySpace page
Client No. 9's escort "Kristen" has been unmasked by the NY Times. She's known as Ashley Alexandra Dupre (born Ashley Youmans), a 22-year-old aspiring singer who was raised in NJ, lived in a number of cities before settling in NYC.
Dupre has a MySpace page, with the message "what destroys me, strengthens me." She appeared in federal court, to appear as a witness against the operators of the Emperors Club prostitution ring, of which Governor Spitzer was a customer. Dupre told the NY Times, “I just don’t want to be thought of as a monster," and "added with significant understatement: 'This has been a very difficult time. It is complicated.'" Difficult the way Client 9 could be difficult?
Her mother, Carolyn Capalbo, told the Times that after her daughter had "typical teenage rebellion issues," they are "extremely close now." Capalbo only knew that her daughter was in trouble last week and said, "She is a very bright girl who can handle someone like the governor. But she also is a 22-year-old not a 32-year-old or a 42-year-old and she obviously got involved in something much larger than her.”
Here's the beginning of her MySpace bio:
I am all about my music, and my music is all about me… It flows from what I’ve been through, what I’ve seen and how I feel. I live in New York and am on top of the world. Been here since 2004 and I love this city, I love my life here. But, my path has not been easy. When I was 17, I left home. It was my decision and I’ve never looked back. Left my hometown. Left a broken family. Left abuse. Left an older brother who had already split. Left and learned what it was like to have everything, and lose it, again and again. 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.
Dupre has some worries about the rent at her "upscale Flatiron" apartment (apparently the Chelsea Landmark on West 25th Street), because, per the Times, "the man she was living with 'walked out on me” after she discovered he had fathered two children." Well, Dupre wrote in a blog post:
If you are in a relationship, and it is "doing absolutly nothing" for you, makes you feel bad about yourself or situations, just causing unessesary drama, and ruining things that you may actually care about...why would you want that in your life?? you need to surround yourself with the people that make you feel good, and that will help you get to that next step in your life. that is what a relationship is all about...growing and moving forward.
You can listen to her song, "What We Want," at her MySpace page; she writes, "What we Want is my latest track. It’s really about trust, something my past has made very difficult for me to feel. This one was inspired by a guy, who taught me not to confuse my dreams with the sounds of the city…I hope you like it."
