Television star defends herself for ‘bad conduct’

Florida

The reality television star who photographed her daughter's casket at the funeral for the suspected 18-year-old victim of a drugs overdose has defended herself  as she was severely criticised for her conduct.

Jackie Siegel was pictured holding a soft drink container and using her smartphone to either film or take pictures of her daughter's remains leaving the church where she was being buried on Tuesday.

Victoria Siegel is suspected to have taken an overdose at her billionaire family's home in Florida, while the rest of her family were on the other side of the United States. The girl had left rehab two weeks previously.

Pictures of the funeral and the manner of Jackie Siegel's mourning prompted abusive postings on social media.. 

Yesterday the family's spokesman, Michael Marder, a Florida attorney, hit back.  

'People deal with grief differently,' he said in a written statement.

'Mrs Siegel is grieving as we all are. I have been with the family starting from the very first moment they learned of Victoria's death and I can tell you that she has cried ... a lot ... and has been on an emotional roller coaster. 

'There is no authoritative manual that tells us how to grieve. The entire family has been sleeping together in the large family room of the house since this horrible tragedy happened. 

'They are talking together, crying together, and caring for and loving each other. 

'The family has been through a terrible tragedy and has been hurt enough, and the way Mrs Siegel is being portrayed by some in the media is just adding additional pain, not only to her, but to the entire family.'

Postings online had described Siegel as 'gross and inappropriate' and 'weird'. The family had also used the funeral to say that their daughter had received bullying texts on the day of her death, allegedly from her boyfriend's ex-girlfriend.

The funeral had been held at St Luke's United Methodist Church, Orlando, Florida. The cavalcade of hearses, flanked by police outriders, arrived at the church early afternoon where family and friends remembered the girl described by the family as 'an earthly angel.'

A soft-hearted girl with a 'hippy' nature, known as Rikki to her friends, she dreamt of opening a sushi bar at the Cocoa Beach Pier and naming it Rikki Tikki Tavern, according to the family obituary. 

Victoria was alone in the Siegel family's Seagull Island home in Green Cove Island, Windermere when she succumbed to a suspected overdose.

She was found unresponsive at 2pm on Saturday 6 June and was taken to Health Central Hospital where she was pronounced dead.

An autopsy has been completed but it may take up to 10 weeks before toxicology results confirm what drugs Victoria had taken.

A spokesman for the family has revealed that the teenager was struggling with an addiction to prescription medications initially administered to her for childhood seizures.