NEW YORK – "Kristen," the high-priced prostitute whom New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer is believed to have hired, has been identified by The New York Times as Ashley Alexandra Dupre, a 22-year-old aspiring musician and native of New Jersey.
Dupre, who was born Ashley Youmans, lives in the Flatiron district of Manhattan, The Times reports. She appeared in court Monday as a witness against the four people charged in the alleged prostitution ring known as the Emperors Club V.I.P.
"I just don't want to be thought of as a monster," Dupre told The New York Times in a telephone interview.
• Click here for photos of Dupre.
Spitzer announced Wednesday he would resign effective Monday after news broke that investigators had linked him to the Emperors Club.
Sources have identified him as the investigation's "Client 9," who was caught on tape setting up a tryst with a call girl named Kristen.
• Click here for more on Spitzer's resignation.
• Spitzer's Alleged Singing Hooker No Andrea True ... But She Could Have a Hit
Dupre grew up in New Jersey before moving to North Carolina in her teens, her mother told The New York Times.
Her mother, who didn't know her daughter was an escort until she called her last week, told The Times she doesn't think her daughter knew who Spitzer was at the time of the incident.
"She is a very bright girl who can handle someone like the governor," Carolyn Capalbo, 46, told the newspaper. "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."
• Click here to read more on the story from The New York Times.
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