Jackie Siegel, the 49-year-old Florida socialite, has fired back at media critics who blasted her for what they said was oddly inappropriate behavior at the funeral of her own teenage daughter, Victoria, who passed away of an apparent drug overdose earlier this week.
Victoria Siegel was found dead June 6 in a Windermere, Florida, mansion owned by her parents, Jackie Siegel and her multimillionaire real estate mogul husband, David Siegel.
Victoria Siegel was only 18-years-old and one of eight children in the Siegel family.
Heiress Victoria Siegel, Daughter Of Billionaire Family ‘The Queen Of Versailles’ Has Died… http://t.co/do8jA82aQw pic.twitter.com/1YLkMHVjYa
— Tommy Garrett (@LightfootInHwd) June 8, 2015
Both of the Siegels have become enthusiastic media personalities, embracing the public notoriety around their unapologetically extravagant lifestyle.
They were the subjects of the documentary The Queen of Versailles , which chronicled their efforts to build a $75 million, 90,000-square-foot palace in Florida, which would be the largest single-family home in the United States. The vast mansion was never completed, thanks to the family’s struggles following the 2008 financial crisis.
David Siegel, 80, made national headlines in 2012 when he sent a letter to his employees threatening to fire all of them and retire to a tropical island if Barack Obama was reelected U.S. president. But he never carried out the threat and, in fact, has largely rebuilt his once-crippled business empire in the intervening years.
Most recently, the Siegel couple appeared on the reality TV show Celebrity Wife Swap , which sent Jackie Siegel to live with the family of actor Jeremy London on their Oklahoma ranch.
At the funeral of her daughter , however, 49-year-old Jackie Siegel — who attended the service clad in a cleavage-baring sheer black mini-dress — was photographed smiling, posing for photos, and at one point using her smartphone to either snap photos of her daughter’s casket or, as the Gawker blog speculated , take selfies.
All the while, she held a large soft drink cup — and a second smartphone — in her left hand, complete with straw poking through the plastic drink lid. Needless to say, her behavior did not go over well on the social media circuit — or in mainstream media outlets such as the New York Post , which deemed her actions “tacky.” On Friday, through their lawyer Michael Marder , the Siegel family shot back at the critics.
The latest statement from Siegel Family Attorney & Official Spokesperson, Michael Marder is the following: pic.twitter.com/08jZw8l57z — JacQueline Siegel (@JackieSiegelusa) June 11, 2015
“People deal with grief differently. Mrs. Siegel is grieving as we all are,” Marder wrote. “I have been with the family starting from the very first moment they learned of Victoria’s death and I can tell you that she has cried… a lot…and has been on an emotional roller coaster.”
Jackie Siegel commented on her daughter’s death on June 9 via Facebook, suggesting that Victoria — who had dealt with substance abuse issues stemming from her use of medication to control seizures — may have been the victim of a cyber-bullying campaign by hey boyfriend’s ex-girlfriend.
[Image: Gerardo Mora/Getty Images]
