Ashley Dupré Exclusive: 'My Side of the Story'
Escort at Center of Eliot Spitzer Scandal Talks to Diane Sawyer
At 19, Dupré moved to New York City to pursue her dream of becoming a singer. She was working three jobs when someone gave her a business card for the escort service.
"You don't mean to make those choices but you're put in a situation and, you know, you have an opportunity to do it," she said.
"I really didn't see the difference between going on a date with someone in New York, taking you to dinner and expecting something in return," she said. "I really thought it was more of a trade-off. He's expecting something in return when you date, whereas, you know, being an escort, it was a formal transaction."
"The media thinks that I'm this crazy partyer and, you know, I like limelight and I want to be out and socializing," she said. "And I would love nothing more than to sit at home and watch a movie. And hang out with my dog, or cook with some close friends."
Dupré said she worked on and off for the escort service and, after being left by a boyfriend with a $3,600 apartment lease to pay off, medical bills and a heavy load of credit card debt, she returned to the agency. Four weeks later, she went to Washington, not knowing that she was meeting a governor.
Dupré says she initially didn't know the identity of the man referred to in court documents as Client No. 9.
"He looked familiar," she said. "But I was 22 years old, I didn't, I wasn't reading the papers, I was so involved in my life and I was so selfish and caught up in my life and I didn't know who he was. And I was whoever they wanted me to be, and he was whoever he wanted to be."
When asked how often she saw Spitzer, Dupré was reluctant to discuss the details.
"Legally, I am not able to answer that question," she said.
Dupré remembers the moment of shock when she watched Spitzer's televised resignation.
"I didn't know the depth to my situation," she said. "That's when I connected the dots, was when everyone else found out. I turned on the TV and I said, "Oh s--, what did I get myself involved in? I felt like everything slowed down around me. And it was just the TV and I and, I was shocked."
Dupré says she was not focused on the governor during the speech, but rather, wife Silda's face as she stood by his side.
"I felt connected to her," Dupré said. "I didn't feel connected to him. Her pain. And I just saw the pain in her eyes."
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