Lis Smith dumped Eliot Spitzer because he was being extorted by the $5,000-a-night Russian hooker who later accused him of a Plaza hotel assault — and there’s “no chance” they’ll get back together, a close pal told The Post on Friday.
Smith, 33, a former Mayor de Blasio spokeswoman, broke up with Spitzer in December when he confessed that Svetlana Travis, 25, was trying to squeeze him for cash, the friend said.
“In the months towards the end of their relationship, Eliot came to Lis and said a woman he had been in a relationship with before he met Lis was making threats and trying to extort money from him,” the friend said.
“It seemed that this was someone who was mentally disturbed. He said the woman was ‘somebody he’d seen a few times.’ She was somebody who was troubled and that she’d ‘come back from his past’ and was making threats and asking for money.
“He was of course very worried about it,” the source added.
At the time, Smith was stressed working as a spokeswoman for since-failed Democratic presidential contender and former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley.
“The situation with Eliot became too difficult and too stressful, so she ended the relationship,” the friend explained.
“She asked a lot of questions and decided this wasn’t something she wanted in her life. The knowledge that this [situation with Svetlana] was happening, and could become public, created a lot of extra stress in the relationship and caused their breakup.”
‘The situation with Eliot became too difficult and too stressful, so she ended the relationship’
- a close friend said of Lis Smith's breakup with Spitzer
Smith’s friend says no one has urged Lis to get tested for STDs because she’s confident Spitzer, 56, was never with any prostitutes when they were together.
“Lis is confident Eliot wasn’t with this woman Svetlana while they were dating, and she has never had any evidence that he was seeing other women or any hookers during their two years together,” the source insisted. “But she’s smart enough to know that it is possible that he was seeing other women.”
Last weekend, Travis accused the former “Love Gov” of choking her in a $1,000-a-night suite at The Plaza, then jetted back to her native Russia on Sunday evening.
Deleted text messages on Travis’ phone, which NYPD detectives took just before she boarded her flight, revealed that she’d tried to shake him down for cash, law-enforcement sources said.
With the accusations swirling, Spitzer released a statement on Monday, calling Smith “the love of my life” — and insisting that Travis was “not my girlfriend.”
According to her friend, Smith still has sympathy for Spitzer because he’s “attracted to danger.”
“She feels bad for Eliot, because he makes his life unnecessarily tough for himself,” the friend said.
The two have talked since the scandal emerged, and Spitzer has expressed confidence that he’ll be cleared of the allegations.
“While they are still talking, there is no chance that Lis and Eliot will get back together,” the friend said. “She’s moved on.”