EXCLUSIVE: Book Publishers Dump Ashley Dupre Over 'Political' Pressures?

Ashley Dupre (Reuters)

LOS ANGELES – Just a few months after her explosive affair with former New York Governor Elliot Spitzer made headlines in 2008, call girl Ashley Dupre was reportedly offered a $2M deal, which included a reality show and tell-all book. But two years later, neither has come into fruition and Dupre says it's all due to "internal" issues.

“I want to work on (a tell all), but I’ve been having a lot of problems with it," Dupre told Pop Tarts at The Big Bluff Trivia game launch in Los Angeles on Monday night. "I’ve had three really huge publishers and they’ve all pulled out. It is because of ‘politics,’ it’s all internal. But I’m not giving up. I’m going to keep going with it.”

But despite her resolve, some experts believe that chances are Dupre’s lack of love from publishers has nothing to do with pressure from Spitzer’s people.

“I would be extremely surprised if a major publisher declined her book for political reasons. As a general rule, if a publisher feels the manuscript in question is of interest to the general public and make money they will do it. But if any one of those elements are missing they won’t risk it,” entertainment attorney and publishing expert Joe Hartlaub said. “If the manuscript was immediately available back when there was lot of public interest, it would have been a different story. But two years is an eternity in terms of the public’s attention span.”

And according to Harry Stockhausen, the vice president of sales and marketing at Expert Publishing Inc, publishers may be more concerned with legalities than political party backlash.

SLIDESHOW: The Lovely and Talented Ashley Dupre

“Naming names and specific illegal activities, even with solid evidence, can leave a publisher open to lawsuits. Even when you are innocent, it costs you time and money to defend yourself,” Stockhausen explained. “And how many people are really interested in reading about her as opposed to looking at pictures of her? People with 15 minutes of fame usually do not sell a lot of books. Many books don’t earn enough to cover the cost of production, and publishing is business, so publishers must be discerning to succeed.”

But the book isn’t the only thing Dupre is concerned about. She says she fears her dream of becoming a pop princess may also be destroyed as a result of her infamy.

“I am going to a few places (around L.A) and my music is on iTunes and Amazon, so now it's going to be me going out doing the whole club/underground scene. I think my music has been treated more negatively – it has been really hard to overcome that (call girl) title and people don’t give me a chance,” Dupre lamented. “Some people just don’t take me seriously.  So it’s a blessing and a curse because I wouldn’t be (at this event) and I wouldn’t have my column in the Post – so it is a double edged sword.”

Dupre was also able to capitalize on her public profile recently by baring her body for Playboy.

“I was really hesitant about the shoot. I had all that scrutiny and to put myself back in that situation with doing lots of interviews – it was brutal,” Dupre shared. “The biggest thing I’ve learned (from the scandal) is that your actions have consequences and they affect other people. For me, it had a huge impact on my family. When you’re young and you do things you don’t think that’s its going to affect your mom or your dad and that was a really big lesson. My family relationship is better now than it’s ever been. We really came together and it is really good.”

But the hardest part of Dupre’s ordeal may still be yet to come – telling her children-to-be about her scandalous past.

“I can’t exactly expunge the Internet and I wish that I could. Another lesson I’ve learned is that I have to explain this to my children and grandchildren and that’s not going to be an easy conversation.”