My thoughts on 'Kristen'.

I have, thus far, stayed out of the Eliot Spitzer scandal. I've kept my opinion to myself about Mr. Spitzer's hypocrisy or infidelity. I've not stated how I feel about Mrs. Spitzer standing next to him on the podium.

I will, however, make two comments on the girl he was apparently 'seeing': Ashley Youmans, also known as 'Ashley Alexandra Dupré' or 'Kristen'.

My first comment is this: Ashley is a very pretty girl. But, that said, I'm not sure any girl would be '$4,300 an hour pretty' (which may simply be because I've never had that kind of disposable income, or the desire to pay for sex).

My second comment is this: I feel truly bad for her.

According to the New York Times, Slate, and her own MySpace page, Ashley has had a truly rough life. She came from a broken home in Jersey. She was abused as a kid. She's a nightclub singer trying to make in into the music business. She worries about making rent each month. She has history of bad relationships. She's been 'broke and homeless' and, as a result, is known to give extra food to homeless people.

According to her MySpace page, she says that she has "learned what it was like to have everything, and lose it, again and again."

Does it excuse what she did? No.

But, it does make me a lot more empathetic towards her. She's a broken girl in a broken world trying to make-do and drag herself up out of a life that's, apparently, handed her one hardship after another.

As Hanna Rosin wrote on Slate:

I think about Ashley looking at an eviction notice and Spitzer cavalierly wiring $4,300 from one account to another, and it's very hard for me to feel sorry for him.

I'll simply close by saying that I hope that someday Ashley will find the love and healing she needs.