When we told you that former call girl (you know, a fancy name for a hooker) Ashley Dupre had been hired by the NY Post to give advice on sex and relationships, you thought it was a joke. We did too! But then when Ashley’s first column came out, we all learned that she’s totally serious about this and thinks her previous experience as a high-priced prostitute makes her qualified to be some kind of authority on men and their urges. Well, you didn’t quite buy it, and neither do many media pundits who think the decision by the Post was appalling.

Yep, there she was, Ashley Dupre, with her creative and profitable experience between the sheets, giving advice to New York’s sexlorn in a newspaper that puts a new down in downmarket.

Still, there is a certain logic in setting up a woman who made so many mistakes before the age of 24 as a Dear Abby for the ’10s.

As we all know, those mistakes go far beyond her error of getting a “Hang in There” tattoo in Latin. or agreeing to have sex with Spitzer while he still had black knee socks on.

Dupre is a rich girl who decided the best way to maintain the lifestyle to which she’d become accustomed would be to have sex for money with objectionable guys. Over and over.

Gotta have those Birkin bags and a huge apartment in the Flatiron District while you’re a struggling singer!

Why hear from dignified young actresses and musicians who choose to stay vertical to make ends meet?

Hearing the world view of someone who turned the oldest tricks in the book affords us such sage wisdom as this from Dupre: “Guys are primal.” Isn’t she the first one you think of when you want advice on love, children, and gift items?

She has been penitent on her MySpace page after meeting Russell Simmons in yoga class and siphoning off some of the record mogul’s inner peace as they did the downward dog.

Regrets, yes, though she didn’t go as far as even greedier Imelda Marcos, who crawled up a church aisle on her knees. Guess that position would be kind of redundant.

It’s a wonder that “David K of Tribeca” and “Meredith of Queens” needed to seek out the counsel of the former prostitute.

It’s also a wonder how they knew Dupre would have her first column Sunday and had already written to that fact-challenged paper with questions like “My girlfriend says she doesn’t like porn. Is she lying?”

Hey, if her editors want to give the wanna-be singer her 16th minute of fame and they’re consenting adults, who are we to be snarky about it?

They’re providing a service for those who don’t frequent porn sites. Where else would we have learned that Liberator sex futons are having a Christmas sale if Dupre hadn’t given us the hot tip?

Political cynics might wonder if Dupre isn’t just being used, this time between sheets of paper, to keep Client No. 9′s naughtiness in the public eye as he tries to rise from the Ashleys and run for office again.

Perhaps Democrats will demand equal time and have Republican wife Jenny Sanford pen a competing column after being cheated on by frequently rising GOP star Gov. Mark Sanford of South Carolina.

Of course, they once gave Victoria Gotti a column, so maybe it’s just all about selling newspapers?

With Dupre spread across the newspaper Sundays, perhaps six of Tiger Woods’ mistresses could pick up the slack the rest of the week.

Or, taking the logic a bit further, Bernie Madoff could write a what-not-to-do with your money column; we could get travel tips from Salvatore (Sammy Bull) Gravano; Sen. Larry Craig could advise on how to meet new people; Mel Gibson could give lessons on tolerance and Lindsay Lohan, on sobriety.

[From the NY Daily News]

Of course, not everyone is completely disgusted by the fact that Ashley seems to be parlaying a career out of her previous job choice. She was invited to sit in with the women of “The View” to give her opinion of the continuously growing number of women who are coming forward to talk to the media about their affairs with Tiger Woods. Somehow, Ashley seems to think she is better than they are because the media had to hunt her down instead of the other way around. Radar Online has video of Ashely ripping into these other women for being famewhores. She also slams them because when she apologized to Eliot Spitzer’s wife, she was “sincere,” while these other women aren’t. And the ladies of “The View” seemed to buy this! Nobody called her out at all. I was waiting for Joy Behar to call Ashley a hooker because this time, she wouldn’t have to apologize. But no- Joy just sat next to Ashley and seemed interested in what she had to say.

It would be really cool if the media could just go back to ignoring Ashley again. I realize that some people might consider her relevant again with this whole Tiger Woods scandal, but let’s make one thing clear: so far, none of these women have admitting to being hookers. They actually thought they were in relationships with this guy. Were they skanky? Yes. Should anyone care what they have to say? No. But do we need to bring in an even bigger skank to tell us this? Of course not.

The New York Post’s promotional image of Ashley Dupre, courtesy of the Post. Additional image of Ashley, credit: WENN.

Don’t ask me why, but I am still fascinated by the whole Eliot Spitzer-Ashley Dupré scandal from last year – it’s been more than a year and a half since it broke, and I’m still interested in hearing more about these people. I think I’m captivated by the players because the scandal didn’t over-stay its welcome. The whole thing – from the outing of “Client Number Nine” to Gov. Spitzer’s resignation, the whole ordeal only took a week. It was a really fun week, gossip-wise, but I’d still like to know more about all of the players, from Eliot Spitzer, to Silda Spitzer, to Ashley Dupré.

Before I get to Ashley’s latest, I just want to ask if anyone had read “Out to Lunch… With Eliot Spitzer” in Vanity Fair’s September issue? It’s a good piece, and Spitzer’s own contrition is compelling. I tend to think he paid a very heavy price for some hooker action. Granted, he was totally gross, but I think his political disgrace came not just from the hooker action, but that he was unafraid to take on Wall Street and Albany. Anyway, back to Ashley. Ashley posted a blog entry on Global Grind which the New York Post and People picked up on. In the “essay” Ashley blasts… well, pretty much everyone. She basically says that many women are prostitutes, but she’s a better person for being honest about it. She also says that she’s a better person than, say, Monica Lewinsky, because she didn’t “out” the Governor, nor has she been out there, selling her story and trying to profit from her tenuous connection to power. Of course, Ashley’s promoting her new single, “Inside Out”.

I read the front page of the NY Post this week and was happy to see that Mr. Spitzer is moving on with his life and considering getting back into politics. Everyone makes mistakes. Everyone deserves a second chance. Me too, right? Well, apparently not. Why? Because many people are liars and hypocrites. Let me give you just a few examples of what I keep encountering, despite my best efforts to move on.

First, I’m often referred to as the “woman who brought down the Governor” – excuse me people, I didn’t call the tabloids, I didn’t blow the whistle and I didn’t save “the dress.” I did nothing to shine a light on my indiscretions or to “out” anyone else.

Second, I keep being accused of “cashing in” on the scandal – wrong again. People think I made money off music that was exploited when the scandal first broke, that I am doing reality television, and that I made millions posing nude for magazines. The truth is none of those things happened. This situation closed far more doors than it ever opened. I didn’t see a dime for my songs, but other people certainly did. I didn’t pose nude for a magazine, but other people made money off of photos of me that they sold to tabloids. Even photos I posed for ages ago were sold to the highest bidder. I never sold any photos of myself – but people who I trusted did. And the “millions” for the nude pics? I was offered that, repeatedly – and turned them down because I didn’t want to perpetuate the problem or feed into the stereotype.

Third, speaking of perpetuating the problem and feeding into the stereotype, let me tell you about most book publishers – they are worse than the tabloids. I won’t give them the “tell all” they are demanding and won’t glorify and sensationalize “how exciting the life of a high-priced NYC escort must be,” as one major publisher put it. Sorry folks, my life wasn’t like a “Sex And The City” episode. I’m not sure that exists anywhere but on television. Oh, and I also love how some publishers who were interested in my story and had offers on the table suddenly pulled them because executives in the company had “personal and political reasons” about publishing the book. What does that mean? Did this hit too close to home for you because your husband cheated on you with an escort? Or would your wife feel insecure if she heard you were working with me? I will write the book regardless and do it for the right reasons.

Fourth – ladies, ladies, ladies – so many of you have been cool, supportive and loving. But there are those of you out there who just love to judge. Let me say this – most girls, to varying degrees of course, want to be pampered and have nice shoes, designer handbags and gorgeous clothes. I know many women who target guys with money and use them to get these things. They toy with them, flirt, go on dates, have sex and then drop hints about that new dress at the store down the street or being short on rent money – and the guys deliver it. This is a dishonest relationship. I see this all over New York City. Some women aren’t as vindictive, but still dive into relationships with wealthy guys who they don’t love or even find attractive, but they stay in it because they have a nice home, a car and spending money – they would rather stay in an unfulfilling or loveless relationship than lose that security. This, too, is a dishonest relationship. I see this type all over the suburbs of New Jersey with the housewives who are strung out on mood stabilizers or the couples who put all their attention on their children so they don’t have to deal with their own issues. What about going to those sugar daddy websites? Is that legal? Should it be? Is what I did any more dishonest? Get real and get over yourself.

You’d be shocked at some of the messes I’ve gotten myself into….and, more importantly, how I got out of them. I have so much more to say, and I will – but it’s time for Yoga class! Om Shanti!

[From Ashley Dupre’s blog entry, Global Grind]

I think the “stereotype” Ashley is referring to in her diatribe is the “stereotype” that you can pay a hooker for pretty much anything. Gawker points out that Ashley is in fact “right, morally” and she’s doing “the right thing to retain [her] humanity.” But then they go on to blast Ashley for being too dumb to realize that by giving her “story” away for free (by using said story to jointly promote her music career), she’s being “conned”. They suggest – and I hope Ashley’s listening – that she simply “sell out like the evil world wants you to, or just fade into obscurity. One’s good for your soul. The other’s good for your wallet. Playing footsie with the Post will only lead you off the cliff. Trust us here.” Gawker has a point.

Meanwhile, Eliot Spitzer just started his new job - as a political science adjunct professor at the City College of New York. He just told the New York Times that the rumors of his attempts to rescucitate his political career were “totally untrue”. Om Shanti, bitches!

Here’s Ashley Dupre spending her summer relaxing on the beach in New Jersey in July 2008. Images thanks to INF Photo.

Former New York governor Eliot Spitzer is having a very hard time rehabilitating his image. At one point during his 14-month tenure as governor, Spitzer was known as “The Enforcer,” and in turn, “The Steamroller.” Then the five-diamond hooker scandal came up, and Spitzer got some new nicknames, many of which I don’t even want to mention.

As part as his media rehabilitation, Spitzer is writing a weekly column at Slate, the online magazine. He writes about the financial crisis with some knowledge – as Attorney General of New York, his specialty was taking down white-collar corporate types who were defrauding investors and brokers.

Spitzer’s latest stop on his slow media tour was Today, and an interview with Matt Lauer. People is billing this as Spitzer’s “first interview since the scandal,” but he appeared on Fareed Zakaria’s GPS on CNN just a few weeks ago. In that interview, Spitzer said he had been “punished” after the hooker scandal because he had to spend time with his family (and I’m not joking). In Matt Lauer’s interview, Spitzer was a bit more circumspect, saying his behavior was “egregious” and there were “no excuses.”

Dealing with what he termed the 800-lb. gorilla in the room, Matt Lauer grilled former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer on Monday’s Today show in an interview that ostensibly was conducted to reveal Spitzer’s expertise on Wall Street and its current woes.

But first, the gorilla: After only 14 months in office, Spitzer resigned his position in March 2008 after it was revealed he was a regular client of a prostitution ring known as the Emperor’s Club V.I.P.

In his first interview since the scandal, Spitzer, 49, downplayed his involvement with the service, saying he used it “not frequently … not long.” The disgraced politician, saying there were “no excuses possible” for his behavior – which he repeatedly called “egregious” – also said that he is still frequently asked about important issues.

Even so, he said, “I’ve had flaws,” and he has thought about them “deeply,” he said, saying he has “tried to address these gremlins.” He credits his “spectacular wife,” Silda, and their three daughters “who are wonderful” for their understanding after they had to deal with “excruciating pain.”

In their probe, federal prosecutors, who ultimately decided not to charge Spitzer with any crime, looked into whether the politician – who built his professional reputation as a dogged State Attorney General nicknamed “The Enforcer” – had possibly concealed or used laundered funds, or used campaign contributions for his prostitutes.

[From People Magazine]

In last month’s Vogue, the governor’s wife, Silda Spitzer, was interviewed with kid gloves. She’s a remarkably classy woman, and I have no idea how she kept her head above water after the torrent of criticism and scandal she and her family have faced this past year. Though she didn’t say much about her husband in the interview, I got the feeling that their marriage is still pretty strong, and she’s forgiven him for the most part. Of course, I suspect Silda will “pull a Hillary” and use her husband’s zipper problem to make her own mark in politics, finance, and charitable interests. As she should – she’s earned it, putting up with that man.

Eliot Spitzer, the disgraced former governor of New York who was at the center of a prostitution scandal last year, may be trying to redeem himself and make another bid for public office. Spitzer was interviewed by CNN for his opinion on the latest AIG financial scandal. The interview will air on Sunday. One of Spitzer’s big projects as governor was to clean up irresponsible spending and corporate greed- in fact, he investigated AIG while he was attorney general of New York. Could this topic be the platform for Spitzer’s return to politics?

Eliot Spitzer has a few words to say about the AIG bonus brouhaha: I told you so.

The former New York governor battered American International Group with charges of corruption long before his own dizzying downfall in a prostitution scandal. He has used this latest financial scandal to strike his old populist, Sheriff of Wall Street themes and, just maybe, mend his reputation — though critics contend that he bears a share of the blame for the insurance giant’s historic near-collapse.

Spitzer says the AIG bonus issue is “penny ante” compared to the billions of the insurer’s bailout money funneled to bad banks, and that Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner owes America an explanation, quickly.
As for all those politicians piling on AIG this week? Been there. Done that.

“We pursued AIG and Wall Street’s structural failures in a way that others shied away from because it was politically unpalatable for them to address those issues,” Spitzer told host Brian Lehrer Wednesday on WNYC Radio in New York City. “Now it is the flavor of the month. Everybody is jumping up and down serving subpoenas, beating their chests trying to be tougher than the next person.”

On CNN Thursday, Spitzer said his initial probes came from AIG’s “effort from the very top to gin up returns whenever, wherever possible and to push the boundaries in a way that would garner returns almost regardless of risk.

“Back then I said to people, AIG is the center of the web,” he told CNN’s Fareed Zakaria.
Spitzer pursued AIG for years when he was New York’s attorney general. The company eventually announced in 2006 that it would pay $1.64 billion to resolve allegations that it used deceptive accounting practices to mislead investors and regulatory agencies. AIG’s veteran chief executive officer, Maurice “Hank” Greenberg, was forced to resign in 2005 after a long and contentious, sometimes ugly battle with Spitzer.

[From The Associated Press]

What do you think – has Eliot’s past behavior disqualified him as a credible expert on this topic? Do you think it’s appropriate for a guy who is ethically challenged to be leading the charge against bad business ethics? It doesn’t seem to me that Spitzer was all that effective in preventing or uncovering corporate greed while he was in office. Perhaps he was too distracted by pretty young hookers to give it his full attention. It’s real easy for him to say “I told you so” now. But if he has any good solutions to stopping AIG and other banks from doing this again, then hookers be damned, I’m all ears.

Disgraced former NY Attorney General Elliot Spitzer’s call girl, 23 year old Ashley Alexandra Dupre, is doing the press rounds and has interviews with People and “20/20.” Dupre’s talk with Diane Sawyer will air on ABC Friday at 10pm. 20/20 bills it as the story of how an “upper middle-class, girl next door got into the profession and the psychological journey she continues to experience.”

Dupre reveals in her interview with People that she didn’t know who Spitzer was when she got paid for sleeping with him. She said he was polite but just wanted to do the deed and didn’t chit chat with her ahead of time.

She’s either trying to get her singing career off the ground, wants the public to see her as a normal person, or a little of both. Her statements are full of cliches about how she was just trying to make ends meet and how she doesn’t see how prostitution is any different than going on a date.

Her descent into tabloid mayhem began the night of Feb. 13, 2008, when Dupré – who had worked as a high-end escort to help pay the bills on and off since 2004 – met a client who turned out to be the Governor of New York.

Dupré claims she had no idea who the man was that night. What she does recall is that “Client 9,” as Spitzer was reportedly known at her escort service (which was shut down in March), “was polite.

“Some guys, they want to have conversations and really get to know each other. With him, it clearly was not like that. It was more of a transaction. Strictly business.”

Casually dressed and with no entourage in tow, Spitzer didn’t strike Dupré as someone important. Besides, “I was there for a purpose – not to wonder who [he] could be.”

FBI Steps In
In fact, she didn’t find out who he was until March when, just days after learning she was mixed up in some sort of FBI investigation, she saw the Spitzer apologizing on TV. “It was surreal,” Dupré says of seeing the client she had met a month before. “I felt like I was sinking.”

As for the former governor, “I think he’s been punished enough.” Asked what she might tell his wife, Silda, who stood at Spitzer’s side when he announced his resignation, Dupré offers, “I’m sorry for your pain.”

In the interview, Dupré also opens up about her troubled past – running away at age 17 into a non-stop life of drinking and partying – and how a girl from the suburbs could fathom becoming a prostitute: “This wasn’t any different than going on a date with someone you barely knew and hooking up with them,” she reasoned. “The only difference is I can pay my rent…

“I’m 23 years old,” she says. “I want to do music, to do fashion, to write books – there’s so many things.” One thing she won’t be doing: selling her body to make ends meet. “No,” she says. “Never again.”

[From People]

It’s crazy to think there’s no difference between dating and hooking up and having sex and getting paid for it. That’s incredibly warped reasoning, but I guess that’s what you might expect to hear from someone who did it for a living. It’s not like she wasn’t out of control before she became an escort. There are plenty of provocative photos of her floating around and she did make that Girls Gone Wild video when she maybe wasn’t even 18 yet.

This woman got her 15 minutes and she’s going to drag it out as long as possible. You can see the fascination with her, but she’s really no different from anyone else in that profession. I’m trying not to judge here and realize that I have a lot of preconceived notions about prostitution that maybe aren’t fair. It’s the world’s oldest profession and there’s a stigma attached to it for a reason. That doesn’t mean that former prostitutes shouldn’t go on to other things in their lives, just that when they try and use the media to their advantage they’re going to be met with skepticism.

Former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer lost his job due to his dalliance with a high-price prostitution ring, but it looks like he won’t be losing his freedom. Spitzer will not face any criminal charges for his soliciting activities, and prosecutors in the case say they could find no evidence of misuse of state funds to bankroll his love of hookers.

Former New York governor Eliot L. Spitzer will not face criminal charges for his role in a prostitution scandal that drove him from office this year, prosecutors announced yesterday.

Investigators for the FBI and the Internal Revenue Service uncovered no evidence that Spitzer had misused public or campaign money to pay women employed by the Emperors Club VIP, a high-priced New York prostitution ring.

Justice Department guidelines disfavor indictments against clients of prostitution rings, even those who transport women across state lines to have sex in violation of the Mann Act. Spitzer acknowledged making payments to the service, which amounted to “acceptance of responsibility for his conduct,” said Michael J. Garcia, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York.

“We have concluded that the public interest would not be further advanced by filing criminal charges in this matter,” he said in a statement issued yesterday.

[From the Washington Post]

Personally, I think prostitution should be legalized. It would deflate the entire sex trafficking industry if people could legally and willingly engage in trading money for sex. However, it’s currently not legal and the governor knew that. I’m calling major BS on these prosecutors. If it had been a regular, everyday citizen engaging in these activities, he’d be sitting in jail right now. And if Spitzer is getting off, I certainly hope that the same philosophy is being applied to the women involved in the prostitution ring. It’s only fair.

Former New York governor Eliot Spitzer’s life just gets more and more complicated. Which is what happens when you pay women to take your pants off, isn’t it? Spitzer has now been named as a client by a famous madam, Kristin Davis (not to be confused with the Kristin Davis of Sex and the City fame) who was arrested yesterday after her high-priced call girl ring, Wicked Models, was taken down by New York City vice cops. According to evidence obtained over the yearlong investigation into Wicked Models, Spitzer was a frequent client of Wicked Models, and Davis personally serviced him several time before 2004 when she was working as a call girl.

At the center of the new ring is Kristin “Billie” Davis, a busty bottle blonde who hails from a ough-and-tumble California trailer park. She has a reputation for hard-partying, shameless self-promotion and a rumored 10,000-name-long client list. Davis’ alleged multimillion-dollar empire was smashed by city vice cops as she made plans to skip town. Prosecutors say she netted some $2 million last year by pimping out ladies of the night for as much as $1,000 an hour through four Web sites.

A source said Davis personally serviced Spitzer. “She personally interfaced with Spitzer a number of times” since 2003 before she became a madam, a source close to Davis said. When asked about the allegation, Davis told The Post, “I can’t talk about it.” Spitzer’s spokeswoman, Anna Cordasco, countered that “Mr. Spitzer was not ever a client of Ms. Davis.”

Nor was there word on whether Spitzer wore his socks during his alleged escort encounters. Last week, it was revealed Republican dirty-tricks operative Roger Stone told the FBI that Spitzer kept his socks on during sex with a Florida prostitute.

[From the New York Post]

Boy Eliot Spitzer sure got around. This may sound naive, but I can’t believe his public imagine remained so impeccably untarnished for so long, considering his prostitution proclivities. Kristin Davis is even cheaper looking than Ashley Alexandra Dupre, Spitzer’s original high class call girl. In fact looking at Davis, I’m not sure what makes her appear high class… other than the amount she charges. New York State isn’t having a great deal of luck with our new governor either – who’s admitted to multiple extra-marital affairs and drug use. I’m not sure what makes public officials think they can get away with something like this. Yeah they have a lot of power – but people just aren’t good secret keepers. And the more women you pay to sleep with you, the more know your secret.

NY Magazine has a new interview with “The Tudors” star Jonathan Rhys Meyers, and the sexy androgynous actor is matter-of-fact about the steamy scenes in his Showtime series portraying life in Henry VIII’s court. He says that all that sex was common among 16th century aristocrats because there wasn’t much else to do, but that it’s not that much different from the modern celebrity lifestyle.

[Henry VIII] Did seem awfully fickle with his women.
It’s not just a case of him being fickle. You read magazines on supermarket stalls, and some movie star is dating this person and then that person and then that person, and people are like, “Why do they hop from one to another?” Because they can! It’s that simple.

Do you feel like the show is over the top with all the steamy sex?
Oh, come on. Sex is sex. These people didn’t have TVs, they didn’t have cars, they didn’t have iPods. They had sex. What else do you think they did?

Got drunk?
Well, what do you do today? Drink and have sex. You live in New York City. You go out Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. But also remember that in that time, sex was very, very important. Sex changed nations.

Why do you think Henry had so many affairs, knowing the stakes?
[Sigh.] Because men are men.

That’s it? Can you think of another reason? Just another instance of wielding his power because he could.
You’re confusing wielding his power with wielding his dick.

[From NYMag.com via The Huffington Post]

When asked for his thoughts about Governor Spitzer’s fall from grace, the Scottish Irish-born Rhys Meyers says that Spitzer having to resign after that scandal broke borders “a little on the puritanical”

Speaking of the intersection of sex and power and politics, I assume you’ve heard over there in London about our governor’s fall from grace?
Yeah, for having sex! Doesn’t that border a little on the puritanical? If I know the story right, he had sex with a $15,000-a-night hooker.

I think their last liaison cost him $4,300.
Oh, so he was having sex with a cheap hooker.

God, I hope that’s not what’s considered cheap.
I don’t know. I don’t patronize hookers. But what I’m saying is, come on, look. Did your president not almost lose his presidency over a blow job? That would never have happened in Henry’s time. Unless it was Henry’s wife, giving a blow job to somebody else.

Kate Beckinsale said something similar on “The Late Show” last week. She told David Letterman that Spitzer’s hooker affair wouldn’t have been big news in England unless there was a diaper involved.

There is something to be said for the constant media persecution of Spitzer that happened after he was caught. You do understand how salacious a story it is and how anyone would jump on it. Investigative journalist Greg Palast points out that Senator David Vitter, a Louisiana Republican, did have a scandal where he was caught paying prostitutes to put him in diapers. Vitters is still in power and not much was made of his involvement when the Feds busted the prostitution ring that supplied him, but Spitzer, an outspoken opponent of you-know-who, had a very public downfall. Prostitution is still illegal, and politicians should be called out when they commit even minor crimes, but it doesn’t seem quite fair that one guy took a fall while another one got a pass.

“The Tudors” season two premieres Sunday March 30th at 9pm on Showtime. You can watch the full first episode online now on the Showtime website. [No one has paid or contacted us for this promotion.]

Photos are stills from The Tudors, thanks to Showtime.com

Girls Gone Wild founder Joe Francis got out of jail after 11 months and “One of the Greatest Miscarriages of Justice Ever” to the sound of crickets chirping. He was soon back at work rubbing his grubby mitts together at the prospect of employing the hooker behind the Governor Spitzer sex scandal to represent his Girls Gone Wild titty-baring franchise. Francis offered 22 year-old Ashley Dupre a million bucks to tell her story in a non-nude photo spread and video for his company. Then Francis realized he already had footage of a then 18 year-old Ashley partying it up and taking it off during spring break on Miami Beach and he quickly rescinded his offer.

Francis described the four year old footage of Ashley as similar to “finding a winning lottery ticket in the cushions of your couch”

Francis will soon release a special video featuring Dupre, now 22, the alleged high-priced call girl linked to the downfall of Gov. Eliot Spitzer.

“I met her on spring break at the Girls Gone Wild beach house in April 2003,” Francis tells PEOPLE. “She got into the Jacuzzi. … She threw her arms around me. I never made the connection that this was Ashley. But my cameraman had been in touch with her for a while. I didn’t make the connection until really recently. Then it was like: that’s Ashley!”

As Francis told the Associated Press about that Eureka! moment: “It’ll save me a million bucks. It’s kind of like finding a winning lottery ticket in the cushions of your couch.”

[From People.com]

People is predictably tame in their coverage, but Gawker notes that Francis said he got “girl-on-girl action” footage of Ashley with another woman in a hotel room.

The NY Post had these screencaps from GirlsGoneWild.com and at 18, Ashley looked like a dork. She soon progressed from an awkward exhibitionist to a drunken prostitute, though, and the Post had some more photos out at a club last February, clearly blotto and getting groped by various guys.

Gawker has Ashley featured in a music video for rapper Mysterious, who then went on Access Hollywood and The Today show to talk about her and get some free publicity. And US Weekly is set to publish the cheesy modeling photos of Ashley shown below. [via Huffington Post]

Dupre is said to have made $200k from downloads of her songs, and while the Girls Gone Wild offer has been withdrawn she’s also been offered $1 million from Hustler and at least six figures from Georgi Vodka. She better cash in now while she has a chance as this story is quickly fading from the headlines.

Some friends of Silda Spitzer are talking to the press about her. Isn’t that nice of them? Most of them are saying that the former first lady of New York is deeply wounded by the prostitution scandal that brought down her husband’s governorship, but that she is not the kind of woman to make a quick decision about something as serious as divorce.

As she remains out of the public eye following her husband Eliot Spitzer’s sex scandal, friends believe that wife Silda Spitzer is a woman who takes the phrase “for better or worse” seriously.

“Maybe she wanted to kick the guy out of the house but she’s in the public eye and a person who takes responsibility,” David Patrick Columbia, a friend of Silda’s and editor of NewYorkSocialDiary.com tells PEOPLE. “I think she’s a woman who was there because that’s the vow: ‘For better or for worse.’ She’s a woman who lives those words.”

Friends of the former first lady of New York, who told PEOPLE in 2004, “The most jarring thing for me is to read these negative things about [my husband] in the papers and try to reconcile that with the person that we know and love,” are giving her space.

No ‘Hasty Decisions’
“She’s in a state of shock right now and she’s not going to make any hasty decisions,” adds high school friend Lina Gibson of Concord, N.C. “She’s not going to throw 20 years of marriage away based on one week of reports. She has to wait until this does down and decide what she wants to do, not what the media decides she should do.”

Her friends “have been very concerned about not making it anymore difficult on her than it already is,” says Columbia. “I feel very bad for her to go through a crisis with her relationship in public. She is such a nice woman who doesn’t deserve this embarrassment.”

It certainly has not been easy. With photographers camped outside the family’s Fifth Avenue high-rise in the wake of Spitzer’s apology and then resignation Wednesday, the couple remained in their apartment last week as their three daughters, Elyssa, Sarabeth and Jenna continued to attend classes at an elite private school in New York City.

Retreated to Country House
On Saturday, the New York Daily News reported that the family had retreated to their country house in Gallatin, New York. (The girls are off for Spring Break this week.) And Eliot and Silda, who told PEOPLE in 2004, “We don’t disagree about much,” continue to work out their issues behind closed doors.

“She’s quietly a woman of principle,” says Columbia. “People criticize her for standing by her husband, but she’s the type of person who takes responsibility for things no matter what. She is his partner. I feel she is the type of person who honors that obligation no matter what.”

[From People]

Well, it’s wonderful that Mrs. Spitzer is the “type of person who honors obligations no matter what,” because her rat-faced shitbag of a husband sure doesn’t. Maybe she should have run for governor instead. I wouldn’t dream of judging this poor woman, but I do have some advice for her. If he dishonors you, dishonors the family you built together, and disrespects all the sacrifices you have made for his career, he ain’t worth it, honey. It’s as simple as that.