Thomas “TJ” Earle, the father of social media personality Alix Earle, has detailed the significant personal and public fallout from his 2008 affair with Ashley Dupré, now Ashley Earle. In the Netflix series “Earle Meets World,” TJ Earle stated he takes full responsibility for the disruption to his family.
“It was all on me; it was all my fault,” TJ Earle said in a confessional, describing the moment their lives were “blown up in a moment’s notice in a very public way.”
TJ Earle met Ashley Dupré at a bar while he was married to his then-wife, Alisa Earle, with whom he shares daughters Alix and Ashtin Earle. At the time, Ashley Dupré had already gained notoriety after an FBI investigation named her as an escort hired by former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer. The Spitzer scandal led to his resignation and divorce.
Ashley Earle shared that she was working as a cocktail waitress when she was told she could earn “$1,000 an hour for going on dates with high-profile people.” She admitted she “always thought it could be [her] secret forever.”
In 2008, the same year the Spitzer scandal became public, TJ and Ashley Earle were photographed together at a New York hotel by the New York Post, exposing their affair. Alisa Earle described the public revelation as a “huge violation, and it was in the public eye, which made it more difficult.”
Alix Earle, who was in second grade at the time, recalled paparazzi following her and her sister when their father would take them for ice cream. “There were paparazzi following us when we were going to get ice cream with my dad,” she said.
TJ and Ashley Earle married in 2013 and have three children together: Izabel, 13, Penelope, 11, and Thomas, 9. Alisa Earle stated that while she has not forgotten the events, the birth of TJ and Ashley’s children helped rebuild fractured family relationships. “It doesn’t mean we can’t all get along and enjoy the people that we love,” she said.
Alisa Earle is currently dating Todd Galski. “Earle Meets World” is currently available on Netflix.