News & Gossip

Updated March 11, 2009

Ashley Dupre: Yoga With Russell Simmons 'Saved My Life'

by  

NYPost.com

NEW YORKYou'll never guess what -- and who -- former hooker Ashley Dupre has been turning to for spiritual support

Ashley Dupre is using her body again — but this time for a wholesome purpose.

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."

PHOTOS: Click here to see photos of Dupre.

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."

Dupre has mostly kept a low profile of late, save the minor uproar she caused at Fashion Week last month when she showed up to sit in the front row of Yigal Azrouel's show. The designer was so outraged at her attendance that he fired his front-of-house publicist, People Revo-lution's Kelly Cutrone, later that night.

LINK: Click here to read more from the New York Post.

Latest  Entertainment Video

MOST ACTIVE  IN ENTERTAINMENT