Queen of Versailles Stars Jackie & David Siegel Speak Out when Daughter's Fatal Overdose: 'Victoria did not Die in Vain'

Victoria Siegel was loving. She was a mortal United Nations agency most well-liked to travel barefoot and reclaimed "the ugliest dogs," as her mother puts it, from the pound. She struggled in school however graduated highschool, and he or she had massive dreams: gap a dish eating house, planning T-shirts, following her passions for poetry, music and art. Victoria was conjointly obsessed on pharmaceuticals, and on June half-dozen, she died of Associate in Nursing drug at the age of eighteen.

The tragedy created headlines. Her folks, David and Jackie Siegel, square measure loaded resort magnates whose lavish style was captured within the 2012 documentary The Queen of Versailles, that chronicles their construction of the biggest aim America.

Now, they hope to make a much better future for teens with problems like Victoria's.

"One hundred p.c of my focus straight away is on saving lives. Not on business, not on homes, not on reality shows," David tells individuals completely. "I wish my daughter's bequest to be that thousands of lives are going to be saved as a result of she lost hers. that is what is keeping United States of America sane. we tend to might have crawled into bed, force the covers over our head and been a basket case, however instead we tend to initiated this journey to assist people, to save lots of alternative families from inquiring what we've more matured."

He and Jackie, 49, have started the Victoria's Voice Foundation to boost awareness regarding addiction. They believe youth square measure immensely over-medicated and under-educated regarding abuse. ("I was hyperactive once I was a child. luckily, they did not stick Maine on something. But today, if a toddler is hyperactive, they stick them on stimulant drug," David says.) they need high colleges and faculties to mandate drug testing. and that they wish to grieve in a very manner that honors their kid.

"By doing this, it's given United States of America some strength, knowing that we're attending to save alternative lives which Victoria did not die vainly," Jackie says. "That perhaps death features a larger purpose."

The Siegel family

Victoria's Death
Victoria was found dead within the Windermere, Florida, mansion the family calls home till Versailles is finished. The oldest of the Siegels' eight kids, she suffered from anxiety, her folks say.

"Victoria was the right storm," David says of however her addiction began. "She had bother obtaining through highschool, she did not like college, thus she wasn't creating smart grades. She did graduate, however once she graduated, she did not decide to head to faculty, a minimum of not promptly."

"She did not understand what to try and do," Jackie explains.

She began seeing a shrink United Nations agency prescribed her Xanax, and he or she "got hooked," David says. A family representative has same it conjointly helped her together with her seizures.

Realizing she had a tangle, Victoria confided in her mother many months past, voice communication she wished to ascertain herself into rehab. She was discharged timely, the Siegels aver, and not given the tools and directions she required to address her addiction within the universe.

By June, she looked as if it would be doing higher, insistence she did not ought to see a counselor as a result of she was "fine."

"Obviously, she wasn't," Jackie says.

Jackie Siegel holding Victoria as a baby

Victoria began chemical analysis a person eight years older than her, and their one-month day of remembrance fell the weekend of her death. the remainder of the family was heading to Park town, Utah, for a marriage, however Jackie says Victoria begged to remain behind and celebrate. upset Victoria may relapse if they unbroken her faraway from her young man, Jackie and David left her reception with 2 adult workers members to supervise.

Her folks keep in mind her apparent "happy," with excitement going searching to shop for him gifts and flowers beforehand, writing him a love note and coming up with "something extremely special."

Then, the boyfriend's ex-girlfriend, with whom he features a kid, visited visit him, the Siegels say.

"Three hours later, the ex-girlfriend sent her a text that was the foremost vile, ugly factor any lady loving might receive," David says. The alleged text, that the Siegels say was sent from the boyfriend's cellular phone, was supposedly regarding however the previous couple had reunited to possess sex, and it claimed the young man was victimization Victoria for her cash.

Victoria's body was discovered that morning. The autopsy results, discharged Wednesday, show she died from acute dolophine hydrochloride and SSRI toxicity. (Sertraline is often sold  because the anti-depressant Zoloft.) The medical expert dominated her death Associate in Nursing accident, and her folks agree. She was thus excited, Jackie says, to start the family's summer trip – a cruise to the state and journey throughout Europe – the subsequent Monday.

"She wasn't depressed. She was terribly optimistic, then the cyber text came and destroyed her," David says. "It was her past love. She was head over heels in love, then the lady that sent it injured her within the heart."



Remembering Victoria
Jackie had a very robust time mourning her female offspring whereas within the spotlight when paparazzi snapped her taking photos of Victoria's coffin at the service June nine.

"It was with great care traumatic. i used to be virtually sort of a zombie. I did not understand if it had been real or faux. One minute i am crying uncontrollably, future minute i am simply numb. and i am attempting to be sturdy for the children," Jackie says. "But I wished to recollect all precious moment of my female offspring before she's down within the ground and attending to be dirt. thus i do not see something wrong with taking one or two footage."

Victoria Siegel

COURTESY SIEGEL FAMILY

In understanding, she says she desires she had employed knowledgeable artist that the couple might use pictures of their grief for the muse, showing addicts the pain they stand to cause if they do not get facilitate.

Still, the Siegels can continuously keep in mind Victoria as she was throughout life: a good looking, warm kid United Nations agency ne'er gave her folks "any trouble" growing up.

"She was one amongst those those that continuously hunted for the great in individuals," Jackie says. "She created some unhealthy selections in friends, despite the fact that they weren't a decent influence on her, however she continuously gave them the good thing about the doubt."

"Whenever she saw Maine, she'd hug Maine, say she preferred Maine," David adds. "The last time I saw her, we tend to were standing within the room entryway, and he or she hugged Maine, and I said, 'Wow, you are obtaining taller than Maine.' "

One of Victoria's reclaimed dogs, Zen, weekday outside her bedchamber door for weeks when her death, till he "realized she's ne'er returning home," Jackie says. Now, the pup does not leave Jackie's facet. "I guess he figures i am future neatest thing," she says, smiling alittle. "Maybe I smell like her or one thing."

Victoria Siegel

COURTESY SIEGEL FAMILY

Victoria's Voice
If David might have another moment together with his female offspring, "I suppose i might tell her that i am sorry I wasn't a much better father," he says, choking back tears. "I would like it had been Maine rather than her."

But he is spent the seven weeks since her death educating himself regarding addiction, traveling across the country to satisfy with presidents of universities, sitting in on medical care sessions with addicts and talking with officers just like the U.S. sawbones general and therefore the head of the Drug social control Administration.

"I suppose the very fact that i'm on this crusade, on this mission, has helped them get through this," David says of his family. "That we tend to square measure attending to create a distinction, we tend to square measure attending to save lives, and that i suppose that is helped my spouse and that i suppose it's helped the kids. We're a lot of nearer than we tend to were. Through adversity, you bond, and that i suppose we've warranted. ... Everybody's unhappy. It's ugly what is happened. the foremost ugly factor that is ever happened in our life. however we're all hanging along, and they are all supporting Maine. I told them nowadays, you guys square measure attending to ought to continue the fight when i am gone. I mean, at my stage in life I ought to be brooding about that beach ought to i'm going lay on and relax and revel in the fruits of my labor. i am beginning a replacement career at a late stage in my life, however i am determined that i am attending to create a distinction."

The Victoria's Voice Foundation's goal is to collect the thousands of little family foundations that rise when somebody dies from Associate in Nursing drug.

"People collect alittle little bit of cash and that they wish to try and do smart. they do not have a guide book, they do not have a playbook on what to try and do. they do not skills to boost cash. thus these very little foundations, when one or two of months, simply turn. they are ne'er detected of," David explains. "I wish to induce of these individuals directions wherever I will have thousands of individuals out there all doing add their communities, in their colleges. this is often attending to take a village. i am unable to screw, 100 individuals like Maine cannot screw. It's attending to take the those that are plagued by this. everyone is aware of someone that has lost a lover to the present."

he Siegels decide to place ads in major newspapers to achieve dead set grieving folks like themselves, and they are donating a part of their own fortune to finance the endeavor. David conjointly aims to supply colleges with the resources to show students regarding addiction and counsel those already troubled.

Victoria Siegel (center) with her sisters

COURTESY SIEGEL FAMILY

"Every college, each university or perhaps high colleges ought to have one course on dependence. the children do not know what they are doing. They suppose that if a drug is prescribed by a doctor, it should be safe," he says. "They haven't any plan, these items, what they are doing, and we're manner over-prescribing the medication. however we have to possess courses in faculty, particularly freshman year after they 1st return here. we have to possess random drug testing. which will save thousands of lives. colleges do not even skills to touch upon this downside, in order that they look the opposite manner. They faux it does not exist, however it will."

The Centers for unwellness management and interference has classified medication abuse as a plague. The statistics square measure staggering: In 2010, there have been eight.76 million ethical drug abusers within the u.  s., in keeping with the National Institute on substance abuse. and therefore the next year, fifty two million individuals ages twelve and older had used pharmaceuticals non-medically a minimum of once in their lives.

"It's a unwellness. If someone gets cancer, you treat it," David says. "Well, if someone starts doing medication, you treat it. you cannot simply ignore it. it isn't attending to escape.

The Siegels also are encouraging individuals to participate within the October. four march in Washington, D.C., organized by UNITE to Face Addiction in Victoria's memory.

"My solely regret is I would like i would spent longer together with her," David says. "You do not suppose they are solely attending to be there for a brief time. You think, 'Oh, there is continuously tomorrow.' Well, there's not continuously tomorrow."

For more information, visit victoriasiegelfoundation.org. For more on Jackie and David, watch Inside Edition when it airs Friday.