Alix Earle’s Dad Revisits Having Affair With Now-Wife Ashley Dupré: ‘It Was All My Fault’

Alix Earle‘s dad, Thomas “TJ” Earle, is opening up about a painful chapter in their family’s past.

According to a Page Six report published Friday, September 4, TJ, 53, addressed his 2008 affair with now-wife Ashley Earle, formerly known as Ashley Dupré, which led to the end of his marriage to Alix’s mother, Alisa Earle, in the premiere episode of Netflix’s new reality series Earle Meets World.

“I didn’t know what the [expletive] to do,” he said on the show, per the outlet. “You have all these people around you [and] their whole world was blown up in a moment’s notice in a very public way. It was all on me; it was all my fault.”

At the time, TJ was married to Alisa, with whom he shares daughters Alix, 25, and Ashtin Earle. He said on Earle Meets World that he met Ashley, 41, “by chance at a bar” while he was still married.

Ashley had already been at the center of a national scandal involving former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer. According to the article, she recalled working as a cocktail waitress when someone told her she could make “$1,000 an hour for going on dates with high-profile people,” on the Netflix series.

“I always thought it could be my secret forever,” Ashley said, per the report.

TJ and Ashley’s relationship became public after they were spotted together at a New York hotel in 2008, per Page Six. On the show, Alisa recalled how difficult it was to have the end of her marriage play out publicly. “That was a huge violation, and it was in the public eye, which made it more difficult,” she said.

Alix, who was in second grade at the time, also remembered the attention surrounding her family. “There were paparazzi following us when we were going to get ice cream with my dad,” the social media influencer said on the show, per the report. She also admitted that after Ashley was introduced as TJ’s girlfriend, she would put “toothpaste” in her shoes.

TJ and Ashley married in 2013 and share three children, daughters Izabel, 13, and Penelope, 11, and son Thomas, 9.

Despite the painful history, the Earles eventually found a way to function as a blended family. Per the report, TJ acknowledged that it “took a lot to come back,” while Alisa said the arrival of her ex-husband’s younger children helped repair some of the fractured relationships.

“You don’t forget what happened,” Alisa said, the outlet reported. “It doesn’t mean we can’t all get along and enjoy the people that we love.”