Real Life ‘Queen of Versailles’ Jackie Siegel Talks Broadway Show, Heartache and the American Dream (EXCLUSIVE)
Plus, the ‘Queen’ reveals when she’s finally moving into Versailles!
With The Queen of Versailles officially open on Broadway this week, real-life subject Jackie Siegel sits down with Woman’s World to celebrate and reflect on how life has changed since a 2012 documentary invited viewers into the 90,000-square-foot mansion she and late husband, Timeshare King David Siegel, started building back in 2004. Siegel also reveals she’s actually, finally, expecting to move into her very own Versailles!
The widow, whose being played by Kristin Chenoweth on Broadway, gets candid about how it feels to see her husband and daughter brought back to life onstage by F. Murray Abraham and Nina White.
Looking back on the original Queen of Versailles and HBO’s 2022 series Queen of Versailles Reigns Again, Siegel contends her family’s story reflects the American Dream, along with dangers that can come with achieving it.
For this Queen, building the biggest home in America may once have been about bragging rights. But now? It’s a tool for raising awareness and making a difference!
On Broadway’s ‘Queen of Versailles’–‘They brought my husband back to life!’
Jackie Siegel had a complete blast at the opening of the Queen of Versailles musical last weekend.
“It’s beyond my expectations,” she cheers. “It’s so exciting. My kids came up and we walked the carpet together.”
While seeing tiny Chenoweth play her is a hoot, she can’t deny that the musical hits her hard, at times.
“I first saw the show when it was in previews, right around the six-month mark after my husband had passed,” Siegel explains. “And when I saw F. Murray Abraham come on stage as David Siegel, The Timeshare King, I started bawling my head off.
“They brought my husband and also my daughter, Victoria, back to life,” she marvels. “So at the end of the show, F. Murray Abraham came up to me and I gave him a big hug. I said, ‘Thank you for bringing my husband back to life, in spirit.’ It’s one thing when it’s on screen, but this is a living person actually being my husband—and I thank God every day for that gift. I’m trying not to cry, now!”
What makes ‘The Queen of Versailles’ so interesting
The world was first introduced to the Siegels though the 2012 documentary, Queen of Versailles, which reflected how the 2008 market crash affected the family and their efforts to build the biggest house in America.
“My husband and his executives hated it, because it showed this big businessman whose empire was crumbling and that’s not something that you want to be filmed,” she admits. “But I just kept opening the doors. ‘Come on in!’”
A decade later, audiences tuned in for the reboot on HBO, and now, their story is on Broadway.
“There’s a lot of comedy in there, a lot of heartbreaks, and in some ways, the shows make it seem like all I care about this house,” she admits. “But I’m hoping the takeaway would be to live the American Dream.
“When I met David, we lived in a four-bedroom, three bath house,” she explains. “He drove a Lincoln. I still had my 10-year-old car, and our life wasn’t very glamorous.”
Siegel on embracing the American dream—‘I was a very driven person’
To be clear, Siegel, who has a degree in computer engineering technology, always had big ambitions.
“I was a very driven person,” she says. “Even when I was living in a cubicle during the day, I was entering the Miss Black Velvet and bikini contests at the bars at night. I did Miss New York—in which I placed Top 15, but didn’t win. I won Miss New York Hawaiian Tropic. I made the cuts to be a Buffalo Bills cheerleader—but then they told me that I would only make $50 a game, and engineering, I made $500 a week, so I chose that.
“I just kept pushing, and I knew I could count on myself to live in a decent home, own a car, and probably have 1.2 kids,” adds the mom of nine, including one late daughter and two adopted nieces. “I didn’t know where I was going to end up, but my ultimate goal was to maybe have a small fishing boat and a trailer in the driveway, with my camper to go on vacations. I never imagined I’d be living on a lake!”
Jackie calls her family’s glitzy ‘glory’ days ‘meaningless’
Siegel has far exceeded her own American dreams, and believes that’s part of the appeal of her family’s story—but she can also see the warning in their tale.
“When David started coming back, he was making it back very quickly,” she explains. “He went from three resorts to 10 to 30, and then Las Vegas. And then the private jet.
“And then all of a sudden, with all that glory, came the showgirls and the champagne,” she continues. “I was going along for the ride and looking back, it was a meaningless direction and a life of like hangovers.”
How losing daughter Victoria was ‘a wakeup call’
That all changed when their eldest, Victoria “Rikki” Siegel, died of an accidental overdose in 2015 at the age of 18.
“When we lost our daughter, it was a wakeup call,” she admits. “Our revolving doors of those type of parties shut and now our parties are charity driven. We have parties with a purpose, bringing like-minded people together for the things that we care about.”
In the wake of her husband’s passing this April, the mansion they’ve been building since the turn of the century feels as much a tool as a home.
“I want to use this house to raise awareness,” she explains. “I’m very active with Victoria’s Voice Foundation and the drug epidemic, but I also want to save our planet. I want the farmland to be healthy so we have healthy food for our next generation. I want the oceans to be clean. I want a cure for cancer.”
“Now, I’m a widow,” she adds. “My kids are grown. I want the American people to be my family, and I want to give back.”
On beauty pageant contests—‘I call it like beauty for good’
While the manse helps bring attention, Siegel—who was Mrs. Florida America in 1992 and now serves as its director, as well as a sponsor of Mrs. America and Mrs. World—is still a huge proponent of the pageant system.
“Some people stereotype beauty pageants, but I still produce them, because they changed my life,” she says. “I love giving opportunities to women and yes, only one person is going to win the actual crown, but they all come out as winners. They learn how to be poised, public speak, wear makeup, and feel beautiful, and to exercise, eat right and takes care of themselves.
“In the married woman’s pageant, the husbands fall in love with them all over again, and they also meet other women,” she adds.
Beyond individual growth, it’s become an incredible way to reach people.
“I call it like beauty for good,” Siegel says. “Through the beauty pageant system, I’ve got Angel Warriors and the Fentanyl Fathers speaking at the schools all across the country on behalf of Victoria’s Voice. We’re touching millions of lives and saving hundreds of 1000s from fentanyl overdoses.”
Queen of Versailles Jackie Siegel says, ‘We can start moving in’ this January!
With the family’s running joke that David Siegel always said Versailles would be ready in two years, the Westgate Resort owner didn’t get to move in before passing away earlier this year—but Jackie claims she’s getting close to moving in with her son David Jr. and niece Jonquil, which means the rest of the brood will have a place to stay in Florida, as well.
“I think I’m going to be done by January—at least, to where we can start moving in,” Siegel say, before starting to laugh. “But…. my railing for my staircase is stuck in China. I’m waiting to see what the taxes are going to be!”
Whether or not the Queen of Versailles gets to finally move in over two decades after initial construction began, the gorgeous widow and mom to eight has found her purpose.
“I really think God has put Versailles and now the Broadway show in my life so I can give back—not for me to say, ‘Oh, look what I have!’” Siegel tells Woman’s World. “All I want to do is make a difference in this world, and I know I can.”
You can catch The Queen of Versailles on Broadway at the St. James Theatre or stream the original 2012 documentary film on services like Netflix, HBO Max and Amazon Prime Video.
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