Alix Earle Opens up About Her Dad's Affair With Ashley Dupré

Alix Earle talks about the affair her father, Thomas "TJ" Earle, had with her now-stepmother Ashley Alexandra Dupré.

By Anna Rumer

Alix Earle is speaking candidly about the impact her father's affair with Ashley Dupré had on their family. On Call Her Daddy Wednesday, the TikTok influencer, 22, opened up about how Thomas "TJ" Earle's relationship with her now-stepmother had implications for her childhood following Dupré's sex scandal with then-New York Governor Eliot Spitzer.

Alix recalled the day in 2008 when paparazzi showed up at her house, forcing her mother, Alisa, to take Alix and her younger sister Ashtin, now 20, to their cousins' home. "We stayed there for a few days and I had no idea what was going on. I didn't know they were paparazzi. I thought news broadcasters were interviewing the neighbors," Alix admitted. It was only a couple of years later when Alix was in fourth grade that she learned what had really happened after searching her family online, which felt like her world had "crashed down in that moment."

"All of a sudden, I see that the past two years of my life had been a lie," she said, explaining, "My dad had an affair with someone who was well-known for her job having sexual relations with high-class people and one of them was even the governor of New York. She was very well-known from that and in turn, my dad's affair became a very public situation."

Alix credits her mom with hiding "the severity of what had happened" from her and her sister, as she "didn't put that stress that she was going through onto us." Alisa and TJ eventually split, and the construction company owner and Dupré eventually married in 2013. It was a difficult adjustment at first for Alix. 

"When my stepmom started to hang around with my dad after he had moved out, she came into his life and we were introduced to her, which was super weird," the Hot Mess With Alix Earle podcast host revealed. "And I was told that I had to be respectful to this woman and we had to be nice to her. I wanted to rip her head off. It was very weird because I felt like I was a 10-year-old having to be more mature than someone 20, 30 years older than me."

Alix also recalled the repercussions her father's affair had on her friendships, as some kids weren't allowed to come to her house, while others targeted her for the scandal. "My teacher in high school was talking about this governor's affair and said exactly what had happened, who it had happened with, and like looked me in the eyes while this was going on in class," she remembered. "I remember my classmates looking at me and, like, laughing because this was about my family. And this was something he was literally teaching in history class." 

Despite the difficulties at the start of their relationship, Alix said her family, which now includes TJ and Dupré's children, 10-year-old Izabel, 8-year-old Penelope, and 6-year-old Thomas, is now "well-blended." She added, "They get along so well."

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