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Where's Ashley Dupre? Spitzer call girl proves elusive

By Korin Miller, amNewYork Arts & Entertainment Editor and amNY.com | kmiller@am-ny.com

10:37 AM EDT, March 14, 2008

For a call girl, Ashley Dupre sure has proven hard to get ahold of.

A horde of sleepless media camped outside the building where the call girl linked to the downfall of Gov. Eliot Spitzer lives sure is wondering where she is Friday, since it seems she's not inside her apartment.

A spokesman for the Manhattan building where Dupre has been living declined to divulge what, if anything, he knows about where she is now.

On Thursday night, Richard Shea issued a statement indicating Dupre's fellow tenants -- who pay around $3,450 monthly for a studio and $6,595 for a two-bedroom -- were fed up with the media circus and curiosity-seekers.

It said: "While it is Chelsea Landmark's policy to not discuss building tenants, Ashley Dupre has approved that we alert the media to the fact that she is not currently in the building.

"Building management does not anticipate her return in the near future and we request that the media respect the rights and privacy of those residing in the building."

Her fellow tenants might not want to see her around again, but outgoing Gov. Eliot Spitzer might see his high-priced prostitute naked again -- on the cover of Penthouse or Hustler magazine.

Dupre, an aspiring singer known as "Kristen" the call-girl who helped topple Spitzer, has been offered a spread and possible cover by the dueling nudie mags. And, judging by her behavior, experts predict she'll accept.

"She'll probably take that opportunity,especially because she wants to have a music career," said Jean M. Twenge, Ph.D., author of "Generation Me." "Let's face it. It could help. In some ways it's realistic."

Board certified psychiatrist Stanley Kapuchinski, author of "Say Goodbye to your P.D.I.," agreed. "If she's continuing to spread herself around, she's just going to do it."

The 22-year-old Jersey native shot to infamy Wednesday after she was identified by The New York Times as the Emperor's Club V.I.P. prostitute who had several $1,000-an-hour liaisons with the 48-year-old father of three teenage daughters.

Hits on the Dupre's MySpace page shot up from the low thousands to more than five million after her involvement in Spitzer's extra-marital affairs was revealed. Surprisingly, she kept her personal photos, music clips and profile, detailing her troubled home life, public.

"A lot of young people have been seduced by our narcissistic culture," Twenge explained. "They don't seem to make much of a distinction between being famous and infamous."

Dupre's online friends also got in on the game, leaving supportive -- if skewed -- comments such as, "It's all bulls---, but, hey, free publicity, right?" and "I guess one good thing came out of this. You became an overnight star. Now run with it."

"This is publicity for them," said Los Angeles-based psychotherapist Stacy Kaiser. "They know how many hits her MySpace page is getting. People think, 'Maybe she'll get famous and rich and take me along.'"

Several of Dupre's pals have been making the talk show rounds, labeling her a "loving, strong, independent woman," among other things.

Dupre briefly took her MySpace page offline yesterday, but resurrected it hours later. She also added a new song, "Move Ya Body" to the music-sharing site AmieStreet.com. That tune, along with "What We Want," the single that was featured on her MySpace page, has been sold more than two million times on Amie Street, according to New York magazine.

Dupre gets 70 percent of each song's 98 cent fee, which means she's already earned more than a $1 million in less than 24 hours. Joshua Boltuch, an AmieStreet spokesman, said: "The second song she uploaded last night rose in price to the max 98 cents faster than any other song previously" on the site.

"What We Want" also received radio play yesterday on Z100.

"She'll be around for a short period of time and that's that," Kapuchinski predicted. "She's going to play it up for what it's worth."