Who

One of New York's most ubiquitous (and despised) publicists, Peggy Siegal is best known for orchestrating some of the city's biggest parties and movie screenings.

Backstory

A Syracuse grad from Alpine, NJ—her father was a light bulb manufacturer, her mom a personal shopper—Siegal started off her career in 1976 working for PR legend Bobby Zarem. (She claims Zarem once threw a typewriter at her when she bungled a phone message.) Like any savvy aspiring PR queen, she left Zarem's employ with his little black book of names and phone numbers and quickly started building an agency of her own, largely modeling her entertainment-focused firm on Zarem's, putting together glitzy parties for movie premieres and other opening night extravaganzas. In 2000, she merged her firm with Lizzie Grubman's PR agency. The renamed Lizzie Grubman & Peggy Siegal Public Relations seemed like a great idea at the time: Peggy had an unparalleled Rolodex with establishment players but Lizzie was better connected with the twentysomething social set. Unfortunately, Grubman's notorious Hamptons car crash in 2001 occurred shortly after the pact was sealed and Siegal soon washed her hands of the mess. After splitting with Grubman, she formed WSC PR with partners Harriet Weintraub and Virginia Coleman, before leaving again to go solo.

Of note

For years, Siegal's business has been getting the A-list to attend screenings and parties. Her events attract a mix of elites: Wall Street machers, media bigwigs, and fashion moguls. (Regulars include Russell Simmons, Nora Ephron, Michael J. Fuchs, Denise Rich, Harvey Weinstein, Michael Lynne, and Tory Burch.) In any given year, she plans an average of 100 events; a typical Siegal screening is followed by a meal at the Four Seasons, Le Cirque, or some similarly fusty Midtown eatery. But her longtime stranglehold on the chichi-screening market has eroded over the past year or two with arriviste Andrew Saffir's Cinema Society now encroaching on her turf, organizing more intimate screenings that attract a similarly high-powered if somewhat younger crowd. Much to Siegal's dismay, Saffir enlists luxury brands like Louis Vuitton and Chanel to sponsor his screenings, a tactic Peggy has decried as "the bastardization of the red carpet."

Drama

Siegal has long stirred up controversy for her diva-like behavior, nasty feuds, and penchant for behind-the-back gossip. Dozens of the aspiring young publicists who have worked in Siegal's office over the years have stories to tell about her ferocious temper and fits of rage, and people who piss her off for any number of reasons get punished. Peggy banned writer Lynn Hirschberg from covering her clients after an unflattering 1985 profile of producer Don Simpson. And even the important people who show up to her events can feel her sting. She won't hesitate, for example, to kick someone out of a seat at a premiere when someone she deems more important comes along. "It's simple—she has no soul," one former friend explains.

The look

Siegal has been embarrassingly open about the copious cosmetic work she's had done. A longtime patient of Pat Wexler, she's especially fond of Wexler's famed autologous fat transfer: "The doctor takes [the fat] out of your bottom and puts it back in your face. So when you are kissing my face, you are actually kissing my ass." At her 60th birthday party, Siegal revealed her beauty secrets to the gathered guests: Dr. Dan Baker performed the facelift, Dr. Gerald Imber worked on her neck, Dr. Jonathan Deland remodeled her ankles, Dr. Richard Frankel worked on her toes, and Dr. Roy Geronemus handled her laser skin procedures. She also noted that Dr. Wayne Winnick is her chiropractor, Dr. Jerome Waye performs her colonoscopies, Jordan Carroll is her nutritionist, and Dr. Patricia Yarberry-Allen has the honor and privilege of tending to her vagina.

Personal

Siegal's single. (She reportedly once offered a new Mercedes to any staffer who set her up on date which resulted in marriage.) She used to date financier Richard Nye, until he forcibly evicted her, packing her clothes into garbage bags and tossing them into the driveway of his house in Southampton. (He was angry that Siegal had been out working instead of spending time with him.) She also dated celebrity hanger-on Bruce Colley, who had an affair with Kerry Kennedy, the ex-wife of Andrew Cuomo. Not that she's bitter, though. "I'm not married, but I'm thin. The ones who were married are now divorced and fat." Siegal lives on East 74th Street and has a weekend home in Southampton.