A Florida man once engaged to the hooker who brought down Eliot Spitzer said he was stunned to hear his ex blame him for her downfall, and insisted she didn’t have to turn to prostitution to bankroll her lifestyle.
“There’s plenty of things she could’ve done instead of that. She could’ve been a hostess [in a high-end restaurant] or a model,” said Jason Jarocki, Ashley Dupre’s former fiancé.
“I don’t feel like I was the result of her doing that.”
His ex-lover seems to disagree.
Dupre, 23, told People magazine she went back to turning tricks in January 2008 after she was dumped by a smooth sugar daddy who gave her life “meaning” – and loads of cash.
Jarocki said that was when he broke off his engagement with the Jersey-girl-gone-bad after he had plied her with jewelry, cash, lavish trips across the country and dinners at five-star restaurants.
Jarocki said he was heartbroken to hear his ex had turned to selling her body after they split.
“I don’t feel good about [hearing] that,” said Jarocki, who owned a limo company and has a nightclub in Palm Beach, Fla.
“She still kept her apartment, even though she was supposed to be living with me. It’s not like she didn’t have anything to fall back on.”
Dupre also kept the $80,000 engagement ring he gave her.
Despite that, Jarocki still describes her as “just a really sweet, beautiful girl.”
But he said had to break up with her because she would take off mysteriously for days at a time.
“I didn’t know what was going on,” Jarocki said.
“What would you do if your fiancée was out with a $100,000 car [that belonged to him] and an $80,000 engagement ring and had all this spending cash, and when you call her, she wouldn’t answer for three days at a time?” he asked.
At times, Dupre told him she was caring for her mother, who was ill, but mostly she gave no reason for her sudden absences, he said.
“I got sick of it,” he said. “There was too much shady stuff going on. I never knew what she was doing or where she was.”
Jarocki claims he did not learn about Dupre’s life as a hooker until she became embroiled in the Spitzer scandal.
The then-New York governor was forced to quit after revealing he had a $4,300 tryst with Dupre in a Washington, DC, hotel room last February. Federal prosecutors recently said they will not charge Spitzer, and it is believed they will not charge Dupre.
Dupre’s ex-boyfriend said he has not spoken to the comely call girl since the scandal broke, although he has tried to contact her.
He remains fiercely protective of her.
“Nobody should criticize her. Since day one, I continuously told people she is not a manipulator,” he said.
“We had a great bond that will always be there, no matter what. The way we were with each other will never change.”
ABC News’ “20/20” is airing an interview with Dupre tonight.