Ashley Dupré Recalls 'Reckless' Affair with Alix Earle's Father

Ashley Dupré has spoken about her past relationship with Thomas "TJ" Earle, admitting she was "reckless" when their affair began in 2008. Dupré, who is now married to Earle and is stepmother to his daughter, influencer Alix Earle, reflected on the situation in a new op-ed for Elle.

She described their initial meeting at a New Jersey restaurant, where they spoke for hours and felt an immediate connection. "We crossed a line we shouldn’t have crossed," Dupré wrote, taking responsibility for her choices and acknowledging that they "affected and hurt other people, including his wife, Alisa [Earle], and daughters, Alix and Ashtin [Earle]."

The former escort, who gained notoriety in the Eliot Spitzer scandal, married TJ Earle in 2013. She noted that becoming stepmother to Alix and Ashtin was not immediately easy, recalling a time when Alix joked about putting Nair in Dupré's shampoo. Dupré has since had three children with TJ.

Dupré's affair with TJ Earle began shortly after she became a public figure due to her involvement with Spitzer, the former New York Governor who resigned from office and divorced his wife amid the scandal. Reflecting on her past, Dupré stated, "I could spend paragraphs explaining why. I was young. I wanted money and independence. I’d spent years operating in survival mode and had become very good at compartmentalizing. But ultimately, I made the call. It was my decision."

She emphasized that while she acknowledges the painful beginnings of her relationship with TJ, it does not define their subsequent life together. "The life TJ and I eventually built is deeply meaningful to me," Dupré wrote. "I can acknowledge that the way our relationship began was complicated and caused pain without letting that define everything that came after it. Both things can exist at once."

TJ Earle also recently addressed the affair, appearing on Alix Earle's Netflix show "Earle Meets World." He expressed uncertainty about how to handle the situation publicly, stating, "I didn’t know what the f–k to do. You have all these people around you [and] their whole world was blown up in a moment’s notice in a very public way. It was all on me; it was all my fault."

Alix Earle had previously discussed the impact of the affair on her family during a 2023 appearance on the "Call Her Daddy" podcast, describing it as her "world crashing down." She recounted the difficulty of being told to be respectful to Dupré during that time. However, in recent years, Alix and Dupré have showcased an amicable relationship on social media and in their family's reality show. Dupré concluded her op-ed by stating, "I made choices. Some were reckless. Some were selfish. They had consequences. I can own all of that without believing those choices have to be the most interesting thing about me forever."