The Queen of Versailles

The Queen of Versailles' Jackie Siegel is larger than life, or at least parts of her are. She appears to be an aging, enhanced trophy wife—and that’s at least half of her story. The documentary The Queen of Versailles depicts not just a beauty queen and model turned billionaire baby factory, but also a genuine person concerned about her kids’ futures after the economic meltdown of 2008. Siegel’s husband, David, founded a massive timeshare outfit in the 1980s, and in 2004 began construction on Versailles, the couple’s dream home—and the largest single-family property in the country. But when Siegel’s company fell on hard times, construction stopped, and the home sits as an unfinished monument to excess. The Siegels themselves come across as surprisingly well-adjusted realists, which makes their story stranger and more rewarding. Boyd