'Queen of Versailles' publishes book about daughter's overdose

Jacqueline Siegel offers details in 'Victoria's Voice'

ORLANDO, Fla. – When the 18-year-old daughter of time-share mogul David Siegel and his wife, Jacqueline Siegel, suddenly died, they joined hundreds of thousands of families across the country in mourning an opioid overdose.

"It seems like anywhere I go, if I go to any crowded place, there's always someone that has lost their child,” Jacqueline Siegel said.

Since then, the Siegels have made contributions to law enforcement agencies to supply departments with the emergency life-saving medication Narcan. 

Recently, Jacqueline Siegel spoke about the decision to also publish a book with photocopies from her daughter’s diary.

"I couldn't stop crying the whole way through the diary,” she said.

Siegel said the motivation to share the diary came from a text message from Victoria just before she died. 

"I feel that now that I've read the diary, I actually know who she was better now than when she was alive,” Siegel said.

The cause of the eldest of the Siegel children’s death in 2015 was initially kept private. Her mother said Victoria struggled with anxiety and was medically prescribed Xanax in high school, but got into trouble with friends.

“She realized she was taking too much and she had almost overdosed when she was at a friend's house, on Xanax,” Siegel said.

Her daughter asked her parents if she could go to rehab, something she documented in her own handwriting in the diary.

One month after her treatment, Victoria died.

Siegel said the book, titled “Victoria’s Voice,” will provide a raw context for parents to recognize warning signs of teenage substance abuse. Their hope is to continue to combat the ongoing opioid crisis.

"All these young people are dying. I mean, they're all beautiful, wonderful, intelligent people just caught up in doing drugs," Siegel said.

In 2012, the Siegels appeared in a documentary called "The Queen of Versailles" that highlighted their lives of luxury.


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