Call girl: Don't label me a monster

NEW YORK — New details emerged Wednesday about the call girl at the center of the prostitution scandal engulfing New York's governor, with a newspaper report identifying her as a 22-year-old aspiring musician in Manhattan.

The New York Times reported that the real name of the woman — identified as Kristen in court papers alleging that Gov. Eliot Spitzer paid more than $4,000 for prostitutes' services — is Ashley Alexandra Dupre. The newspaper said she was born Ashley Youmans but changed her name.

Don Buchwald, a New York lawyer, confirmed he represents Ashley Alexandra Dupre, the same woman in The New York Times story. "That's as far as I can go," he said.

Dupre's MySpace page provides a window into her life as she went from a broken home in New Jersey to a music career in the city.

"I have been alone. I have abused drugs. I have been broke and homeless. But, I survived, on my own. I am here, in NY because of my music," she wrote.

In an Aug. 30 blog posting on MySpace, she writes: "The past few months have been a roller coaster with so called friends, lovers, and family ... but its something you have to deal with and confront in order to move on ... "

"What destroys me strengthens me" is the slogan next to a Dupre photograph. The number of hits to the page soared after the story broke.

She said her favorite musical artists include Etta James, Aretha Franklin, Celine Dion, Christina Aguilera and Frank Sinatra.

She briefly spoke to The New York Times about the Spitzer scandal. Law-enforcement officials identified the governor as "Client 9" who had a Feb. 13 tryst with Kristen and paid her $4,300, according to court papers.

"I just don't want to be thought of as a monster," Dupre said. "This has been a very difficult time. It's complicated."

She said she had slept very little since the allegations against Spitzer were revealed.

Dupre said she worried about paying her rent in a Manhattan apartment after her boyfriend recently left her. She said she was considering moving back in with her family in New Jersey.

Records show that Dupre lives in The Chelsea Landmark, where rents start at $3,500 a month for a small studio, neighbors said.

She declined to comment when asked by The New York Times when she first met Spitzer and how many times they had been together.

Dupre apparently appeared in federal court Monday as a witness in the case against four people accused of operating the Emperors Club VIP prostitution ring.