Photo:Katie Meehan

It seems people either love or hate Jacqueline Siegel. Depending on who’s talking (or better yet, who’s written the latest comment on The Orlando Sentinel blog), she is either a hard-working philanthropist that gives back to the community or a filthy rich mother that has too many nannies.  If you’re asking me,  she is the woman I interviewed for a one page editorial, that eventually turned into PLAYGROUND‘s cover story, that ultimately caused an uproar in the local parenting community, and thus the person responsible for drawing an incredible amount of attention to my work–I think it’s safe to say I love her.

No really, I don’t see what all the fuss is about. My editor and publisher have told me about the influx of letters questioning their decision to put her on the magazine cover and I think it silly. The goal of the magazine as I understood it–and I’m not speaking on behalf of the magazine here–is to showcase Central Florida parents. It’s true that this parent happens to be a mother of eight and also the wife of a billionaire, however, I don’t recall Jacqueline asking for pity or sympathy like many of the e-mails and comments have suggested. She simply shared her story with me.  I would hope that if PLAYGROUND chose to feature another parent of a different scenario, like perhaps a homeless father of three, the amount of response (both good and bad) would be the same. I fear, however, it wouldn’t. I imagine people would be much more sympathetic to a homeless father, or anyone else that doesn’t have access to that much money.

As a society, it seems we just don’t know how to handle those who have more money than us. We’ll say, “Yeah, he doesn’t understand. He has money,” or “Look at that lady. Her daddy/husband/someone other than her must have gave her that car/ring/designer purse.” We can’t help but be quick to judge. But truth be told, if I could afford to hire five nannies for my small army of eight children I would. That’s five jobs I would be giving to five people who are thankful to have such an opportunity–that doesn’t sound so wrong to me.

Anyhow, there were many rewrites of this article. The following was one of many edits:

Two years ago, I would have made fun of anyone that paid more than hundred bucks for a toothbrush. Then, this past Christmas I received a little electric miracle—the Oral-B Triumph. The $130 luxury toothbrush comes equipped with a Smart Guide, or video timer, to show where to brush and for how long, and it’s also good for correcting one’s brushing technique (a red light flashes if something is performed incorrectly). This fine piece of technology—worth every penny if you ask me—even congratulates its owner with a smiley face after completing the suggested two-minute regimen. This happens to be my favorite feature because never before has brushing felt like such an accomplishment. In fact, I’m beginning to wonder how I’ve lived so long without Mr. Smiley.

The problem is I have justified paying a small fortune for something once given to me for free by my dentist. Even more, I want to encourage everyone I know to buy one, which seems ridiculous considering I’ve never had a cavity in all my years. Clearly, I’ve sustained successful brushing habits for some time now, yet, I want to credit the Triumph for all its greatness. So now I have to ask myself: has my perception of reality changed since this experience? Will I never turn back to regular brushing habits?

I imagine this is what it might be like to be the wife of a billionaire, because as Jacqueline Siegel tells me her life story she is completely unaware of how extraordinary her life sounds and how different it is to say, um, my life.

“There’s David and I with Bill Clinton,” she says, pointing to the framed picture hanging on the wall in the Baroque inspired hallway. She is giving me a quick tour of the mansion, or the Siegel’s “temporary house,” located in Isleworth. The “Versailles,” the 90,000 square foot future home of the Siegel family, is being built in a different part of the neighborhood. When it’s complete it will be the biggest house in America contained underneath one roof.

“Is that you with Usher?” I ask, pointing to one of many picture frames sitting on an armoire.

“Yeah, with Bruce Willis and Sylvester Stallone. That was a fun night,” she says, kind of like how I talk about my friends, except my friends aren’t famous (at least not yet) or rich (but they’re working on it).

As we are touring her backyard and are looking at the custom swimming pool that overlooks Lake Isleworth, three of her dogs, all of them with white fur, are jumping all over her. “Yeah we like white animals. See our peacocks over there? They’re white. We used to have a white tiger too, as a pet, but not anymore.” She talks of her peacocks and pet tiger like how most American families talk of their dog, Roscoe. I have to ask myself, “Does she think this is normal?”

I too must have gotten lost somewhere in Jackie’s reality because it’s not until I am driving her to the site of her “Chateau”—or what she describes as her new home and what I’d describe as a potential Disney resort—that it dawns on me that I am responsible for a beautiful billion-dollar commodity, otherwise known as the woman sitting next to me in my van. This unsettling realization makes me want to floor it to our lunch destination as quickly as possible, although this is impossible—I am driving slower and more carefully than ever before. It gives us time to make conversation along the way. Jackie does a lot of the talking and the conversations start like this:

“That’s my friend’s house. She’s turning it into a castle.”

“Oh look, they’ve put the fence up for the baseball field already. [The baseball field is in her future front yard.] The neighbors must love that. I always get these anonymous letters in the mail … complaining about this and that … I wish they’d at least sign them so I could talk to them personally about it.”

“My friend is texting me. She wants to know how many of us there are … she’s going to get a table for us.”

“I wonder how that building got financing. Even we are having trouble right now with the tough economy.”

It’s like one minute I can understand Jackie’s reality. And then the next minute, I cannot. While I have felt the effects of a down-spiraling economy and have had friends text me about reserving tables, I never have known anyone to turn their house into a castle or have had the convenience of a private baseball field in the front yard.

The following interview took place during lunch at Bravo with Jacqueline’s mother Debbie, and friends Nita and Shari. I am caught off guard and wishing I hadn’t turned my recorder off, when the forty-year-old says, “David and I didn’t exchange Christmas gifts this year … we decided not to, you know, since times are tough.”

“How sweet … and normal,” I think. Jackie is so casual sometimes it becomes easy to think she is like everyone else.

But then I remember why she always is smiling. She is a former Miss Florida (and looks it) that has eight children (but doesn’t look it) and is building the largest house in America (you must see it to believe it). To put it bluntly: she’s the wife of a billionaire, Westgate Resort owner David Siegel. From what I can tell, her life is like nothing I have experienced before.

“Perhaps there is no such thing as normal,” I think. I mean, did I mention that I own a $130 toothbrush?

*Below are excerpts found in Jana Waring’s Who’s That? Discovering Orlando One Interview at a Time. To read Jacqueline’s entire interview, buy the book now!

What does being a mother mean to you?
Responsibility. A life filled with love. I enjoy being there for the children … and they are also there for me, even though they don’t realize it. Sometimes I can be down and they’ll say, “Mommy, look what I made for you at school.” It brightens my day.

How many nannies have you had over the years?
We’ve had several nannies. We usually keep them for a long period of time, like 5 years. Then for some reason or another they move on, like they’ll get married or move away. I’d say we’ve had maybe ten nannies over the years.

What is the most that you’ve had at the same time?
I’d say five nannies.

Do you think having money changes the way you must parent your children?
It doesn’t for us because my husband is very money conscious—frugal. He’s careful about how he spends money. He doesn’t spoil the kids. We have to shut the lights off every time we leave a room. We drive regular cars and we keep them for a long time, until they need to be turned in like six to eight years. The only reason we own a plane is that so he can run his business efficiently and so that he can visit all his resorts. Before he owned all of the resorts he could have had a plane but didn’t. It’s not a luxury for us; it’s more of a necessity. We believe in hand-me-downs for the kids clothes. And of you look at our house—to go through the whole tour it takes about 45 minutes—we use every single inch of that house. It’s very lived in. It’s not like we’re using it to show off, we need it.