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It's good to be the queen: Life is a royal pleasure with all the trimmings for Jacqueline Siegel, wife of the time-share billionaire(Orlando Sentinel, The (FL) (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Aug. 20--Jacqueline Siegel lives a champagne-and-caviar lifestyle. Make that Veuve Clicquot la Grande Dame champagne, if you please. And Osetra caviar. They're the sort of luxury brands that sell for $180 a bottle and $88 an ounce. Nothing but the best for the wife of Orlando time-share billionaire David Siegel: Gucci in her closet; Rolls Royce under her porte-cochere; Gulfstream G3 jet on the runway at Orlando International Airport. As a girl growing up in a middle-class family in Binghamton, N.Y., Jacqueline's dreams were relatively ordinary. She would study computer engineering at the Rochester Institute of Technology; build a career in business; then marry, have a baby and settle down. Instead, after college and a few months cooped up in a windowless IBM office, she signed on with a New York modeling agency and traveled the world posing for lingerie and liquor ads. She later moved to Florida, met and married Siegel, moved into an Isleworth mansion, had five babies -- and now, at 40, is expecting twins on Nov. 7. But she's still ready any instant to pack her custom Louis Vuitton luggage and zoom away to mingle with the rich and famous in Las Vegas, New York or Monte Carlo. Soon it may be harder to get away. The family is rapidly outgrowing its 25,000-square-foot house and Jacqueline will be tied down decorating the new abode the Siegels are building, reportedly 90,000 square feet in extent. Furnishing the 8,000-square-foot master bedroom alone will be quite an undertaking. Then there's the children's wing, the guest suites, the 10 kitchens, 30 bathrooms and full-service spa. As F. Scott Fitzgerald observed: The very rich are different from you and me. Welcome to her world The gilded gates to Seagull Island, the Siegels' $5 million estate on Lake Isleworth, swing slowly open on a weekday morning in late July. The drive curves toward a colossal Southern-style mansion. Tennis court to the right, fountain to the left, kids' pogo sticks and tricycles in both directions. There's plenty of parking for a humble compact behind Jacqueline's Escalade and a visitor's Bentley. A housekeeper opens the towering front doors and ushers visitors into a formal anteroom. Various people and pets drift in and out. A Republican politician with an aide. A man in coveralls with a vacuum cleaner. A white cockatoo. A woman who introduces herself as Jacqueline's stylist, another who is her business partner. Two white American Eskimo dogs and a Great Pyrenees -- Chanel, Crystal and Paris by name. Then finally: Jacqueline. She pauses at the foot of the grand staircase, blond, statuesque. Her makeup is flawless, her kimono dress short, her Valentino heels high. The heavy baubles that flash at throat and wrist are intimidating, but her smile is sweet, her manner gentle. Friends describe Jacqueline as easygoing, caring, generous. "Always happy," says her aunt, Sue Kaufhold. "A people person," says friend Nita Bass. "People gravitate toward her." "She's real. All this doesn't make her," says friend Karen Ball, indicating the luxurious surroundings. "I don't take anything for granted," Jacqueline says later. "Friends are the most important thing. What's the use of a big house if you're lonely?" If there's a downside to being one of the very rich, to being different "from you and me," it's figuring out who your true friends are, she says. "I've learned through trial and error." There's also the name-calling: trophy wife, trollop, gold-digger. "It doesn't bother me," she says. "When they stop talking about you it means you don't matter anymore." And that most persistent of rumors: For every child she bears, her husband pays her a million dollars. "That's all?" was David Siegel's derisive response when he first heard that rumor. Dressed for success A practiced hostess, Jacqueline instantly makes guests welcome. Something to drink? A tour of the house? Would you like to see her closet? She leads the way down a wide marble corridor and across the ivory-carpeted vastness of her bedroom, passing fireplace, grand piano, massage table and a huge waterbed in an elaborate wood frame. "Some mornings," says Jacqueline, "we wake up with all the dogs and two or three kids on the bed with us." Her walk-in closet has two floors, neatly organized by her personal stylist, Tamara Kohler, who helps her coordinate outfits for luncheons, parties and travel. Kohler remembers her first meeting with Jacqueline: "I took one look and said, 'That's Jessica Rabbit.' " David Siegel doesn't like the price of designer clothes, says his wife. "But when he sees me wearing them, and when he tells me they look nice, I rub it in: I tell him it's Gucci, it's Dolce & Gabbana. "When we're going to meet the president, or royalty, I feel it's important to wear designer fashion," she says. "But maybe I'm just making excuses because I love it." Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas and New York's Madison Avenue are her favorite shopping haunts. "With a limo to take me around, so I feel like a movie star," she says. She is eager to show off the outfit she has assembled for the MTV Music Awards in New York on Aug. 31, and afterward for a party in Pamela Anderson's penthouse: black vintage Gucci mini dress and brand-new green-python jacket, ruby-studded dragon necklace by Rosalina and "hot Versace boots." "It'll be a hip, rock-starrish event, not elegant like the Oscars," says Jacqueline, who defines her personal style as "classy-sexy." The MTV outfit is certainly sexy. Keeping it in perspective A tour of the house comes next. Jacqueline winds her way through enormous bedrooms lavish with toys, and a playroom where everything is oversized, from TV to stuffed animals. Children who live this large must surely have a different perspective than those whose surroundings are more average? "We did have a concern that they'd think everyone lived in a gated community and had a private jet, but our kids know this is special," says Jacqueline. "We give them chores. We don't buy them everything they want." The children, ages 3 to 9, attended public schools until this fall, when they switched to private institutions. As Jacqueline negotiates her house's many stairs in her teetering heels, her children flit about, trailed by nannies. Maids polish and dust. Out by the pool, a yardman shoos white peacocks into a mesh enclosure. It takes a daily staff of about 15 to keep the estate running. When the Siegels host fund-raising events, as many as 200 additional workers may be needed. "I have a harder time handling staff than kids," says Jacqueline. "I hate the drama, the conflicts. My personal assistant handles most of that." She may be lady of the manor, but life isn't all leisure and luxury, she says. She is a partner with friend Susan Ortega in J&S, a company that publishes the Central Florida edition of TravelHost magazine. And much of her time is taken up planning, directing or attending an endless succession of charity galas. A cell phone and Palm Pilot are her constant companions. Then there's the lord of the manor to contend with. Although Siegel is 30 years her senior, he's her equal in energy, says Jacqueline. "He loves to go dancing, to movie-star parties. He expects me to travel with him at a moment's notice and not be tired. If we were the same age, I couldn't keep up." For his part, Siegel appreciates his wife's intellect, sense of fun and warm heart. "And her beauty, of course." "People think when someone has a pretty face, they're not smart. She's very intelligent and comes up with good ideas," says Siegel. He also admires her ability to effortlessly "pop out babies" without losing her vigor or figure. The day before her fifth baby was born, she was riding a Jet Ski, he says, and a week later was wearing a bikini. "She's the poster child for maternity." A palace on Lake Butler A decade ago, David Siegel spotted Jacqueline across a crowded room at a party in Orlando. It was love at first sight, he says. It took Jacqueline, who was in the process of divorcing her first husband, about a month to return the compliment. They married on Jan. 2, 2000. "It makes me feel good to make dinner for him, to spoil him," says Jacqueline, who takes a turn in the kitchen from time to time. "I think I'm as good to him as he is to me." Siegel doesn't share his wife's passion for fabulous food, clothes and cars. "He grew up watching every penny," says Jacqueline. "At black-tie dinners, he'll pass around a plastic baggie for steak bones to bring home for the dogs. He gets his cars from Thrifty." But when it comes to houses, they're in sync. They broke ground last year on "Versailles," the 10-acre estate on Lake Butler named for the French palace that inspired its design. It won't be completed for at least two more years, and it's still anyone's guess how many millions it will cost. But it surely will be grand. "I was having dinner a year ago with Robin Leach in Las Vegas," says Jacqueline. "He says it will be the largest residence under one roof in the United States. There are larger houses, but they're now museums." The Rolls is ordered up for the five-mile drive from Seagull Island to Versailles, with bodyguard Mike McGinn behind the wheel. On the way, Jacqueline fills in some of the details. The home will have a roller rink, a bowling alley and a movie theater inspired by the Paris Opera House. There will be two elevators, a living room with stained-glass dome by artist Mark Bogenrief, and an underground garage for 40 valet-parked cars. But the coup de grace will be the ballroom, complete with grand staircases, antique mirrors and ceiling frescoes. A little excessive, n'est-ce pas? Not really, says Jacqueline. They plan to host extravagant charity benefits in their palace. She figures the grander the venue, the more people will want to come -- and the more they'll pay for the privilege. Later, lunch is served at the top end of a table that comfortably seats 20. It's a working meal with just one matter on the agenda: Jacqueline's baby shower. What would a woman with five children and more money than Fort Knox want with a baby shower? Well, says Jacqueline, the birth of twin girls is surely an event worth celebrating. And besides, this won't be a typical baby shower. Like everything she does, the shower is snowballing. It started out as an intimate affair at Nita Bass' home, says Jacqueline. "But when the guest list grew to 150, I said we'd better do it here." So a committee of five sits down to brainstorm shower ideas while nibbling on caviar, chicken salad and fresh berries. Stephanie Hartman, special-events manager for Westgate Resorts, David Siegel's time-share empire, takes notes: Pink linens, pink champagne, pink lemonade. "But only fresh-squeezed," says Jacqueline. Pink-chocolate fountain, pink ice sculpture, pink cake. "Maybe from Sylvia Weinstock," says Jacqueline, naming New York's cake-maker to the stars. Pink-iced cookies, pink candy-floss, pink goodie bags. "And I could spray-paint the dogs pink," says the honoree. There will be a harpist and strolling musicians; a photographer and videographer; party games inside for the adults and activities outside for the children. Jacqueline's gift selection is registered at Dior and Tiffany's. "But let's offer the option of making a donation to a children's charity," she suggests. Since that meeting, Neiman Marcus has offered to stage a fashion show during the shower. Marvelous idea, says Jacqueline. After all, her guests and Neiman Marcus' customers tend to be one and the same. Jean Patteson can be reached at [email protected] or 407-420-5158. Copyright (c) 2006, The Orlando Sentinel, Fla. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. |