Kristen

UPDATE: As more unfolds, the media reports that Kristen, an aspiring singer from New Jersey who moved to NYC to pursue a music career, comes from a family of privilege. She left after wrecking a Porsche, given to her by her stepfather. After millions of hits, her MySpace page has been taken down, but you can see the photos here. Her song, What We Want, has sold hundreds of thousands of copies in the last few days via download ...

Was she worth $1000 per hour and losing the Governorship of New York State? I weighed many options for this posting, but the story of New York State Governor Eliot Spitzer and his liaisons with prostitute Kristen is so huge, that it seemed futile to do anything else. This is an international story - front page news in TV, newspapers and online publications everywhere. It dominates the conversations and minds of many. However, the real fascination is now with Kristen - who is this woman and what does she look like?
So, at 6 AM, armed with a camera in the darkness of early morning, I decided to make a pilgrimage to Kristen's apartment building on West 25th Street and at least witness the scene. The news crews, cameras and vehicles were everywhere, having staked out the building for days, hoping to get a glimpse and perhaps a statement from Kristen.
By now, everyone knows of Spitzer's trysts with Kristen through the prostitution ring - Emperors Club VIP, where he was known as Client 9. The details of the scandal and Kristen were broken by the New York Times.
The papers and TV are just flooded today with images, factoids and catch phrases - $1000 per hour, $80,000 spent, Spitzer's wife and family, the Mayflower Hotel, federal wiretaps, resignation, our new Governor David Paterson, the Mann Act, etc. Wikipedia even has separate entries for the prostitution scandal, Kristen and the Emperors Club VIP. This is also very much a NYC story, with both the Governor and Kristen having apartments in Manhattan - the Governor on the Upper East Side on Fifth Avenue and Kristen in the Flatiron District.
Photos from Kristen's Myspace site (see all of them here) were revealed yesterday in the New York times and are now appearing everywhere. Kristen, neé Ashley R. Youmans, changed her name to Ashley Rae Maika DiPietro in 2006. She now refers to herself as Ashley Alexandra Dupré.

I have decided to let this posting run through Saturday. I hope by that time, this entire affair will be more settled and less distracting. I will resume new postings.

NOTE: Sunday is the two-year anniversary of New York Daily Photo. I will have a special posting for this occasion - see you then!