Fan Lord said: Kuo Tai sinks and floats
Recently, a new reality show, "The Queen of Versailles Reigns Again," brought back into the public eye a once-very high-profile and popular billionaire family.
The protagonist of this reality show is Jacqueline Siegel (Jackie Siegel), 56 years old, is a full-fledged American celebrity, and the wife of American billionaire David Siegel.
But presumably she prefers her title of "Queen of Versailles", because everything about her is quite "Versailles". Not only did she live in great luxury, she herself actually owned a "Palace of Versailles".
As early as 2000, the Siegels bought a piece of land in Windermere, Florida, and prepared to make it an "American version of Versailles".
The reason is that the couple had visited the Palace of Versailles during their honeymoon in France, and they were pregnant with a child at that time, David wanted a lively family with a large number of children, and the house was naturally more like a super large mansion, so building a "Palace of Versailles" of their own became their dream.
After all, David is a billionaire with strong assets, and the two of them really bought land and began to build the "American version of Versailles". The 90,000-square-foot residence will be one of the largest single-family homes in the United States when completed, renovated in 2004.
In 2012, a documentary "Queen of Versailles" was released, documenting the construction of this dream home by the couple (mainly Jackie) and the daily life of the family, which also caused a lot of discussion at the time.
However, due to the financial crisis in 2008, David's company was seriously affected, and their family suddenly changed from super luxury to "Puhao", the quality of life was seriously reduced, the construction of the dream home was forced to stop, and it was once listed for sale.
These were also recorded in this film, originally to show everyone their "Versailles life" side, but did not want to make the family's experience of downfall public. Perhaps feeling humiliated, David took the film to court after its release, claiming to have damaged his company's reputation.
But now, the family has survived the economic crisis and returned to the luxurious life of the past. Not only did they put the construction of the house on the agenda, but they also hired Discovery+ to help them shoot a reality show, which was more sense of Versailles than it was a decade ago.
And the experience of the "Queen of Versailles" is also very dramatic, from an ordinary small town girl to a programmer and was elected a beauty pageant champion, and finally married a rich man to become a social celebrity.
Today, Lord Fan will come to give you a pickpocket of this "Versailles Lady" and her "Palace of Versailles".
Programmers marry real estate tycoons
Kings and queens in versailles
Jackie: A history of the struggle of a small town girl
Jackie was born in a small village in Broome County, New York, far from the real metropolis of New York, with few opportunities to get ahead.
But Jackie was ambitious from an early age, and with her hard work, she was admitted to the Rochester Institute of Technology, and also studied computer engineering, and after graduation, she became a programmer and entered the dream job of IBM.
At the time, she was the only woman in the company besides the secretary, and she was a very good presence in the male-dominated industry.
However, after working for a few years, Jackie realized that this was not the life she wanted most, so she resigned decisively. However, she did not continue to stay in the computer industry, but instead used her own good conditions to become an advertising model.
Not long after, she met her first husband, investment banker Ron Solomon, and gave birth to a child, and gave up her modeling career to teach her husband and children at home.
But this Ron is a scumbag who likes domestic violence, often abusing and beating Jackie, and hating that she can't make her own money. A bitter Jackie eventually chooses to divorce and leaves him with the children.
In 1993, she went to the Florida Beauty Pageant again, unexpectedly became the champion, was elected Miss Florida, and became one of the most popular beauty pageants there, and it was because of this pageant experience that Jackie met her current husband David.
It is worth mentioning that she has also dated Trump several times, and according to Jackie, she still maintained a friendship with Trump after marrying her current husband.
David: Real estate tycoon
When I met Jackie, David had just been divorced, and he had been married twice, both of which lasted for a few years before ending. Although he is a full thirty years older than Jackie, his shining aura of real estate tycoon & billionaire still attracts Jackie.
Siegel, a Jew whose family had been in business since his father's generation, was also very business-minded and founded Westgate Resorts, a very strong asset.
In 2000, Jackie and David were officially married.
After their marriage, the two raised a total of 8 children (including two adopted children and the children of Jackie and her ex-husband, one of whom died tragically), and lived a very luxurious Versailles life while building the Palace of Versailles.
Everyday Versailles life
How versailles is the life of this rich couple? Travel is basically by private jet, and every time a family goes on vacation, it is such a huge scene
Take a helicopter ride for a short trip
There are more luxury cars of all kinds, and Jackie usually goes out to buy a thing and also sits in a lengthened luxury car.
Not only is the daily life very Versailles, the family also likes the style of the Louis XIV period, and even the family photos are in this style
David even had several sets of Versailles photographs that he didn't know if they were real paintings or if they were deliberately taken like this.
The photo of the two people is also quite contradictory, much like the AI changing face on the painting of Louis XIV
Even the family dog has the same king-level portrait.
But to say the most Versailles, it has to be Jackie. She now positions herself as the "true Queen of Versailles".
The daily style is quite exaggerated, crowns, jewelry, chinese clothes, etc., the elements are complete, and it seems that there is really a Queen in my heart.
Jackie's style of dress has basically not changed much in the past ten years, and she likes all kinds of pink, fluorescent or blingbling elements. It turned out that the cloakroom of the old house was still slightly cramped.
The shoes are also all non-gold and silver shining models, and each pair seems to shout "sister is the queen".
Bags also love this style, and the intricate design is more luxurious and eye-catching.
Ten years ago, Jackie's dress style was very pompous, with large prints, sequins, leopard prints and other elements.
Nowadays, it is even more exaggerated, whether at home or in formal occasions.
The fur necessary for noble ladies is also often worn, and it is also deliberately worn when filming reality shows.
The various pink clothes that I love most every day are now more and more familiar, and the age reduction effect is quite good, and I occasionally want to be a princess.
However, more often than not, it is still this style of leopard print, print and other styles of clothing, and it is still fond of the queen style.
Bags are basically large in size, like hermès platinum bags, she basically carries 30, 35 sizes.
She also likes Louis Vuitton's CAPUCINES bag, which is rare leather and trench-
Jackie's jewelry collocation is also very "Versailles", whether in the reality show or daily life, she likes a variety of jewelry with a strong sense of shape, diamond necklace is three, and then with diamond bracelets, etc., blingbling is blind.
She also has a lot of colored gemstone necklaces, and she loves this gemstone super large
These two rings are most commonly worn daily, with emerald gemstones and diamonds racing one large at a time.
A dream home of luxury
Versailles inside and out
Next, let's talk about their "Palace of Versailles".
When the couple built this "palace" 20 years ago, the house was the largest and most expensive single-family house in the United States at that time, and its appearance was even more magnificent and majestic than the White House, jackie told the media at the time: "It is the same size as a super Walmart!" Not only is it inspired by the French Palace of Versailles, the name of this house is really called "Versailles".
Because the house is huge, the process of construction and renovation is also very slow, and it has been built and renovated for several years since the ground was broken in 2004, but after David encountered an economic crisis in 2008, the renovation stopped.
Nowadays, the palace has been renovated again, and the layout has undergone some new changes. The exterior has an outdoor garden, tennis courts, bowling alleys, baseball fields, etc., and the scenery is also invincible.
The inspiration for the balcony is said to have come from the Paris Opera House, which is still under construction.
There are swimming pools both outdoors and indoors, which look very pleasant
The interior has 5 kitchens, more than 10 bedrooms, a dining room for 100 people, a cinema, a games hall, a wine cellar, a garage for 35 cars, and even a ballroom for 500-1000 people.
Jackie also ran a British-style retro bar, which is also quite willful.
The English phone booth was designed as a door with a sense of atmosphere.
She even had a bird's nest and had bought a pair of expensive toucans and was planning to buy some more flamingos...
In terms of decoration, the internal concept map is like this drop, golden and brilliant, like a solemn and luxurious palace.
When the back decoration has the initial effect, it is also gorgeous.
This dome is also very exaggerated, classical and gorgeous, quite religious.
It's very big to see from the outside
In addition to the decoration, the home style is also very Versailles.
Sculptures and fireplaces all have the extravagant beauty of louis XIV decorative arts.
Chandeliers with intricate designs and classical charms are also essential, and the price of $500,000 a lamp is not cheap
There is also the couch where Jackie sat during the reality show interview, which is also quite trenchous
From photo frames to grandfather clocks, the key word is "golden sparkle".
It feels like the lion is about to become his family totem.
However, compared to the real Palace of Versailles, it is naturally worse than a little
The renovation was tossed in three twists and turns
People in front of Versailles, a handful of bitter tears behind them
Although on the surface the family is very beautiful and Versailles is extreme, there is also a bitter tear behind it.
As mentioned at the beginning, this dream home was forced to stop construction due to the economic crisis suffered by the Siegel family, and it was once listed for sale, and the fate was also very twisty.
In 2008, the subprime mortgage crisis swept the world, siegel's real estate company also encountered financial difficulties, work stagnated, the family was forced to tighten their belts to live, and the quality of life dropped sharply.
They sold their private jets, ranches and other possessions, and the family traveled only on commercial jets.
Only four of the 19 servants were fired, which was undoubtedly very painful for a family of 8 children.
Later, Jackie not only occasionally had to take care of the housework herself, but also had to take a lot of babies herself, thinking that it was also a collapse.
Even to buy a cheap McDonald's to eat, Jackie sitting in a luxury car eating fries looks very broken.
To make matters worse, David, who was troubled by the economic crisis, began to have a conflict with Jackie. He has a lot of dissatisfaction with Jackie, and the relationship between the two people was once very tense.
Jackie personally cooked food for David and told him to eat, but david was blown out of the house, and even her daughter could see that David was making a fuss about everyone.
They spent a huge amount of money on the "Palace of Versailles", naturally it could not be saved, the Bank of America planned to sell it at an online auction, David borrowed another million dollars, delayed for 6 months, and wanted to find a way to keep their dream home.
But David didn't find a single investor and was forced to sell his financial control of the company.
In 2011, the Siegel family finally couldn't hold back and sold the house for $75 million, which was reduced to $65 million in 2012. But I didn't expect that this house was completely unloved and never sold.
Not only that, david was dissatisfied with the documentary to film the scandal of their family, and then took the filmmakers to court, claiming that he did not know that the ones that were filmed at that time were to be put into the documentary. However, he was ultimately ruled out for "inconsistencies in his testimony" and lost $750,000.
This dream home, which has been built for many years, has suddenly become a rotten house, like an abandoned place.
However, the house was not sold, but became an opportunity for the family. Later, David survived the economic crisis, resumed his super-rich status, and decided to restart the construction of the "Palace of Versailles" plan.
The former queen also seems to have metamorphosed, Versailles concentration is higher, the new season of reality TV directly in a helicopter, carrying Hermès back here.
At present, the "Palace of Versailles" has not been built, the reality show is still continuing, the original plan will be completed this year, what the result is, let's wait and see~
Well, the Queen of Versailles and her "Palace of Versailles" will be introduced to you here, what do fans think about this, let's talk about it in the comment area
Images from the web, partly from Visual China
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