Longtime restaurateur Christopher Malta says he first met Ashley Dupre three years ago when the Seventh Avenue eatery, IL Bastardo, was the hot nightclub Viscaya. She was the bottle hostess.
"She would decided how much people were spending," Malta said.
He says Ashley worked the nightclub scene like a pro, all in an effort to make connections and to pay for studio time for her aspiring singing career.
He says she talked little about the family she'd left behind at the Jersey shore when she left home at age 17.
The New York Post today touted photos Ashley posed for during a glamour shoot in early 2007 in hopes of promoting her singing career. By then, the feds allege she was already a pro at taking off her clothes for big money, reportedly thousands an hour while employed as a high-priced hooker for the Emperor's Club. Her biggest name and repeat client was Governor Spitzer.
"I can't believe she did it, but I believe she did it for her singing career," Malta added.
Malta, who says he still text messages Ashley on holidays, says when he first saw photos of Kristen, he thought she was an Ashley look-a-like.
Dupre is certainly getting her 15 minutes of fame. A reported 5 million people visited her MySpace web site page after the scandal broke. By Thursday, her page had a message from her that stated, "Yeah, I did it."
It was later changed to read, "Thank you for your support, it means a lot to me."
And her demo song, "What We Want," is now getting national airplay on Z100.
Larry Flynt put out a release saying Hustler magazine is willing to pay $1 million for Dupre to pose in their magazine.
