Ashley Alexandra Dupre: The Woman at the Center of a Scandal

If you scan the MySpace site, you will find many happy girls next door types. One of which is Ashley Alexandra Dupre, who was identified by The New York Times identified as the woman at the center of the Eliot Spitzer story. On her MySpace, http://www.myspace.com/ninavenetta, it says: "I am all about my music and my music is all about me. It flows from what I've been through, what I've seen and how I feel." Ms. Dupre mentions Patsy Cline, Frank Sinatra, Christina Aguilera and Lauryn Hill among a long list of influences, including her brother, Kyle.

A specific episode that made prostitution real to me was when I found out that a former roommate of mine worked for an escort service. The topic came up while we were watching the Julia Roberts film Pretty Woman, and my friend, whom I'll call Nikki, proceeded to inform me about how the movie does not depict prostitution in the real world, but it makes for good entertainment.

Nicky grew up like any other child living in a Mormon home in Brooklyn, NY. When she was 14 and started experimenting with drugs and alcohol. Shortly after, she ran away from home, and her parents disowned her because she chose not to be a Mormon. By 16 she was married and had a child by about 19 or 20 she was divorced and her son was sent to live with Nicky's parents because her ex-husband was abusive. It was around this time that the drugs and alcohol started taking over, and prostitution was a way to get the money that she needed.

She was 34 when I met her and she had fallen into a hole of drugs and depression. All of the boyfriends that I knew of used her to supply their drug habit as well. Working for an escort agency, she would make about $1,000 on Friday and Saturday, and the money would be completely gone by Monday. I talked with some of the girls she worked with, and they all stated that prostitution brought quick money. After all, Nicky said it was her body and she could do what she wanted with it, but what a lot of girls do not take into account is the legal, physical, and health repercussions. It is a vicious, cut throat industry that many women fall into and have a hard time getting out of especially if they have a drug, and/or alcohol problem.

Nicky would also tell me about times when she was thrown down stairs, chased with knives (by the john or his significant other), abusive boyfriends, run ins with pimps, as well as altercations between girls. Most people don't realize how violent this industry can be. We need to educate young girls, and show them that there are more legitimate ways to make money. Prostitution is not a cool way to earn spending cash, It is an industry that claims the lives of many young, beautiful woman that don't realize that the decision to become involved in prostitution could cost them their lives. That is what happened to Nick, but she isn't dead in the way people normally think of death. It is sad to see the decline of a nice person who could have been so much more than what she has become.