A NEW REIGN
‘Queen of Versailles’ star opens up about new show, finishing her $200M home & her daughter’s tragic death
IT has been nearly seven years since Jackie Siegel — the “Queen of Versailles” — lost her daughter Victoria, and she still can’t bring herself to pack up the girl’s bedroom. Jackie won’t even let the cleaners in to touch Victoria’s things at the family’s infamous home in Windermere, Fla. To keep memories close, she maintains an altar in the house where she lights incense every day and prays for her daughter.
Victoria was 18 when she passed away from a drug overdose in June 2015. It’s really in her memory that Jackie, 56, is back on camera as she finally aims to finish her over-the-top mansion on a new Discovery+ show, “Queen of Versailles Reigns Again.”
“When Victoria died, it felt like my world fell apart, and all the money in the world could not bring her back,” Jackie told The Post.
After a butterfly landed on Victoria’s coffin, Jackie told The Post, she decided to have a butterfly design — made of marble, lapis, amethyst and turquoise sourced out of 22 different coun In ball 85,000- squaretries, then cut and dry set indonesia—embossed in the room floor at her foot home. The depth of Jackie’ s grief can be seen in an upcoming episode where she takes the cameras into Victoria’s bedroom.
“I don't even let the cleaners go in her bedroom, it’s been untouched since some of her friends came in to pick some of her things,” she said. “I think I had an emotional breakdown, I left her room alone, hoping she will come home. But the moment just hit me.
“We agreed to do the show because [it would] follow the house — and also our personal story, with our legacy of the loss of our daughter.”
Jackie and her billionaire husband David, the CEO and founder of Westgate timeshare resort, broke ground on the house they named Versailles back in 2004, with plans to make it the biggest single family home in the US.
The couple then found worlddocumenwide fame in the 2012 tary “Queen of Versailles,” which followed their travails as David’s company was badly hit by the 2008 recession.
Construction on Versailles was halted and the cameras followed the couple and their eight children as they struggled to cope with their reduced income. AlGreenplauthough director Lauren field’ s film won awards and dits, the Siege ls were less than happy and David sued the filmdefamakers, accusing them of mation, a bid which he lost.
The Siegels were forced to put Versailles up for sale, but it never found a buyer. And now TV cameras find Jackie — still wearing her diamond-encrusted “Queen of Versailles” necklace — dealing with a cracking marble facade and numerous leaks, as well as debating whether it’s truly wise to have a Benihana-style hibachi grill installed into one of their six kitchens. (Spoiler: No, it’s too smelly and noisy.)
There are some wow moments in the new show, including the unveiling of a British pub — complete with a vintage bar and a London phone box imported from the UK — and the arrival of some very expensive baby toucans, part of Jackie’s dream of installing an aviary. Next on her wish list: flamingos.
There’s also a 35-car garage and a 150-person dining room. Jackie estimates that, once it’s all done, the home could be worth $200 million.
When Victoria died, it felt like my world fell apart, and all the money in the world could not bring her back. — Jackie Siegel on her daughter’s overdose
How life has changed
Talking about the original doc, Jackie — who first piqued director Greenfield’s interest when they met at a Versace boutique opening in Beverly Hills — admitted: “My husband wishes we didn’t do it.
“He was going through a difficult time financially and it made it look like our marriage was not doing so well. We had bankers who made us put Versailles up for sale, and he was mad when the cameras were around — every time he looked around, there was a microphone or a boom over his head. They tried to follow us everywhere, even into our bedroom when we were in our underwear. It was like having Big Brother around.”
However, she added: “In all
honesty, I don’t have any regrets. The only thing is, if I had known so many people would watch, I would have worn more makeup!”
The Siegels had just finished filming “Celebrity Wife Swap” when Victoria, Jackie’s daughter from a previous relationship and whom David had adopted, died. She overdosed on methadone when her parents were away, and was found at home.
Victoria, who was a big part of the documentary, had gone to rehab to deal with a Xanax addiction. It was there she met her 26year-old boyfriend.
“The day she got out, she tried her first heroin . . . a month later she was dead,” Jackie said.
The boyfriend later died of a drug overdose as well.
After Victoria’s passing, “We didn’t go out for many, many months,” Jackie admitted: “I went through an isolated period of my life.”
The family set up the Victoria’s Voice foundation, warning other parents about the dangers of addiction.
“We got Narcan [overdose medication] available across the country, and just in Florida alone they’ve used it over 1,000 times to save lives,” Jackie said. “It helps my heart to know that Victoria didn’t die without a purpose.”
Updates to the mansion
The TV show has allowed Jackie to show how she balances being a mother — to daughters Jonquil, 28, Debbie, 20, and twins Jacqueline and Jordan, 15; and sons David Jr., 22, Daniel, 21, and Drew, 18 — as well as home and work. She runs the beauty pageants Mrs. Florida, Mrs. American and Mrs. World, and is launching an initiative called Beauty for Good, where “an army of beautiful women with a crown” will talk to school parents about the warning signs of drug abuse.
The house has been under construction for so long that plans have changed as the kids have aged. They no longer need a nanny’s room, and plans for an ice skating rink have been changed to a dance club and a workout room. “Thank god I had a big family,”
said Jackie. “The other kids gave e the will and strength to live, d the love and support to be a om for them too. Because of eing their sister first hand, ey’ll never touch a drug — I n’t have to worry about that. I nt them to have a happy life d build a big home for them.” The family started filming the Discovery+ show in January 2021, but David Sr., 86, was not part of the first four episodes because he spent six months in the hospital after hurting his back while fourwheeling with his sons.
He then developed pneumonia and faced other health setbacks. He’s now home and recovering well, Jackie said.
Getting it all done
The kids have helped Jackie make millions of dollars worth of decisions about Versailles after David told her “it was all in my hands. There have been about $50 million worth of decisions to get this house done. I’ve had a lot on my plate! I was there with the kids with sledgehammers, it was a great release.”
The cameras also follow Jackie around the country as she visits her vast storage units filled with expensive antiques, has her own beer made for her pub, and picks out furniture to be embossed with her family’s crest.
Although a Season 2 has not yet been announced, cameras also joined her on a trip to Indonesia to inspect flooring — and were there when she spent the night at the real Palace of Versailles in France.
“I met the people restoring it. I have someone from France coming this week to help me with Versailles here,” Jackie said. “When I went to Indonesia, the factory president said I was the only client putting gemstones in floors, like amethyst, rose and quartz!”
It’s a far cry from her upbringing in Endwell, NY, where she grew up in a $20,000 house and started babysitting in second grade.
She married David in 2000 after he had gone through a $200 million divorce from his first wife.
“I’m not even friends with the women in my neighborhood, who are married, who go to the club, play tennis and lunch,” Jackie said. “They go through the motions of life. You marry and reach 50, the husband gets bored, he divorces you and finds a 20- or 30-year-old. I didn’t want that to be me. No matter what, you have to have your own life — your own purpose.
“I like to stay busy, I have my own investments. When I came into the marriage I was richer than my husband! He had just gone through one of the largest divorces in American history at that time. We were living in a three-bedroom house — well, four, but I used one as a closet! David was driving a car from Thrifty rental. Then he remade his fortune and grew it to a billion-dollar-a-year industry.”
Her goal is to have finished Versailles enough to host a New Year’s Eve party and move in on May 3, 2023, David’s 88th birthday.
For now, she’s still in search of her flamingos: “Once I get my mind set I don’t take no for an answer.”