The woman at the center of the Eliot Spitzer high-priced hooker scandal has set her sites on a different kind of entrepreneurship.
Four years after her exposure as the former New York governor’s favorite escort, Ashley Dupré has literally set up shop in New Jersey’s Red Bank community in the form of a lingerie and swim suit shop called Femme by Ashley. The woman who was once at the center of attention for her sexy, scandalous lifestyle is now peddling racy little numbers to other women, inspiring them to embrace their own sexuality.
But the former “Girls Gone Wild” star seems to have come a long way from her days in the spotlight, which led to brief moonlighting as a singer and a sex columnist for the New York Post. Now, Dupré is looking to fly below the radar as she concentrates on her transition from sex to retail. She agreed to one interview with local Jersey blog Red Bank Green, but said it would likely be her only contact with the press about her shop’s opening. She credited her boyfriend, TJ Earle, with convincing her to do the interview to foster a good relationship with the community.
“I made a bunch of mistakes when I was younger, and I feel like, for the first time in my life, I’m growing into an adult, and I’m really excited about that,” Dupré, now 27, told the blog.
Dupré said she settled on the upscale downtown of Red Bank as the location for her boutique after visiting the area frequently during her childhood in Wall Township.
“I just fell in love with the community as a whole,” she said. “It is like a little mini SoHo, and the people here are great.”
She didn’t allow the blog to photograph or videotape the interview, saying she is now a very private person. Dupré said she plans to be at the store everyday and is already bracing for curious onlookers eager to spy a glance at the Playboy centerfold.
“Well, I’m sure I’m going to see everybody,” she said. “I’m sure a lot of interesting people are going to walk through those doors.”
