Jackie Siegel, the subject of the documentary The Queen of Versailles, is trading her sprawling Florida mansion for the corridors of Capitol Hill this week. She’s heading to Congress to mark the fourth annual National Naloxone Awareness Day, an event she helped champion after losing her 18-year-old daughter, Victoria, to an opioid overdose in 2015.
A Personal Mission
“Ten years ago, no one knew what Narcan was,” Siegel told ITK in an interview, referring to the brand name of naloxone, a drug that can reverse opioid overdoses. “Had the first responders had Narcan when my daughter overdosed, she could possibly still be alive,” she said, noting that Victoria had a pulse when medical personnel arrived but lacked the life-saving medication.
The Thursday event at the Hart Senate Office Building will include Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), who co-sponsored bipartisan legislation in 2023 to establish June 6 as the annual awareness day. Also scheduled to speak is Drug Enforcement Administration head Terry Cole. The gathering underscores a rare moment of cross-party consensus on an issue that has devastated communities across the nation.
From Tragedy to Advocacy
Siegel’s advocacy extends beyond the awareness day. She has pushed for funding to stock naloxone rescue kits in emergency vehicles and school nurses’ offices nationwide. Last year, her family suffered a double blow: her husband, David Siegel, died on the same day as her sister, who succumbed to a fentanyl overdose. Now raising her two nieces, Siegel said the losses have only intensified her resolve. “It’s really given me more energy … to work harder. My husband gave us a big platform that we can continue to spearhead this and save lives,” she said.
Her story has reached Broadway: last year, Kristin Chenoweth portrayed Siegel in a musical adaptation of The Queen of Versailles. But Siegel sees her real-life role as far more urgent. “This is all opening up the conversation and educating people to know there is something that could be done to save a life,” said the 60-year-old. “My life is expanding, and I want to use whatever fame I have to save lives in general.”
A Broader Push
On Wednesday, Siegel will sign copies of her new book, Princess of Versailles, at the Willard InterContinental Hotel in Washington, D.C. The book, inspired by Victoria’s life with a fantasy twist, is a cautionary tale aimed at preteens and young adults about a princess whose life is ruined by drugs. “It can create a conversation within the family or within other loved ones without someone feeling like they’re being accused of something,” she explained.
The event comes amid a broader national reckoning with the opioid crisis, which has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives over the past decade. While some political figures have focused on border security or trade deals—such as Trump securing $17 billion in annual Chinese farm purchases—Siegel’s advocacy highlights a different kind of policy priority: public health and harm reduction.
A Lifetime Commitment
Siegel, who founded the Victoria’s Voice Foundation, said her trips to Washington will continue each year. “This is going to be a lifetime effort for me,” she said. “It’s very sad, how I lost my daughter, but I feel like she’s woken me up. I found the purpose in my life. I really think it’s my own corner of the universe, doing everything that I can to not only save lives, but unite people, maybe to save families.”
For a figure known for her opulent lifestyle, the shift toward grief-driven advocacy has been stark. But Siegel insists the mission is what matters now. “This is all opening up the conversation,” she repeated, “and educating people to know there is something that could be done to save a life.”
