US News

SHE’S JUST A ‘BABE’

Silda Wall Spitzer was deeply shaken that her disgraced hubby repeatedly slept with a hooker only a few years older than their eldest daughter, a family friend told The Post.

“It was the age” of 22-year-old Jersey girl Ashley Alexandra Dupre that really got to Silda, the friend said.

Sultry pictures of Dupre, referred to as “Kristen” in federal affidavits, were splashed across the front page of every paper in the city and broadcast around the globe, thanks to the girl’s MySpace page, which remained accessible to the public far longer than anyone would have imagined.

And the fact that Dupre is only four years older than the Spitzers’ eldest daughter, Elyssa, is not lost on Silda.

Despite any lingering disgust, friends said Silda, 50, is going to ride out the wave with Gov. Spitzer – for the time being.

“She’s been his rock,” said a source.

One friend noted the couple had another in a series of meetings scheduled with Gov. Spitzer‘s lawyers yesterday.

“She’s not the type of person to crawl into a hole,” a friend told The Washington Post yesterday.

Meanwhile, Silda’s disgraced husband is apologizing to anyone who will listen in the halls of his Fifth Avenue apartment building, sources said.

“Eliot is actually apologizing to any of the people he sees in the building,” a neighbor said yesterday.

It was unclear whether he was merely apologizing for bringing an inordinate amount of media attention to 985 Fifth Ave., where apartments rent for as much as $30,000 a month, or for tarnishing the state’s reputation.

Inside the posh, 26-story, postwar rental building – owned by the governor’s real-estate mogul father, Bernard – the Spitzers occupy a four-bedroom apartment on the eighth floor with views across Central Park.

“They’re not hiding in their apartment,” said another neighbor, who only agreed to speak anonymously. “Silda’s talking to people and holding her head high.”

“Most of the residents’ thoughts are with Silda Spitzer and her three daughters.”

Friends said it was not likely she would immediately run out on her sex-crazed hubby.

“This would just be too much for the [daughters] to deal with if she suddenly walked out,” one said.

“Frankly, she’s beautiful, smart and rich. She’d be a great catch for someone.”

Silda, a Harvard Law-educated Baptist Southern belle, had led a charmed life until now.

She grew up in Concord, NC, the eldest daughter of a hospital administrator and a homemaker, before marrying into one of New York City’s richest and most prominent families.

Reached in North Carolina, Silda’s mother, Trilby Wall, said she couldn’t speculate on her daughter’s mindset.

“I’m not where she is,” Wall said. “This is her business, and I can’t comment.”

braden.keil@nypost.com