Jocelyn Wildenstein, known to millions as ‘Catwoman’ because of her extreme plastic surgery, died at the age of 84.
RadarOnline.com can reveal that the socialite died of a pulmonary embolism on Tuesday in Paris.
Wildenstein, born Jocelyne Périsset, died in a Parisian palace, as announced by her 57-year-old partner Lloyd Klein.
She was last seen looking healthy on December 18 in the French capital, with Klein.
The star smiled at onlookers while dressed in a fur jacket, leggings, and boots, with black sunglasses and her blonde hair in soft waves over her shoulders.
She was dubbed Catwoman because of her prominent cat eyes and leonine features.
Wildenstein had more than a million Instagram followers and described herself as a “art dealer.”
This Swiss socialite was born into humble circumstances before marrying a French-born American billionaire in the 1970s.
However, just over two decades later, the couple made headlines for their messy divorce.
She became one of the world’s wealthiest people following her divorce settlement, which netted her more than $2 billion and millions more each year.
But she managed to lose it all after years of tinkering with her face and indulging in countless luxuries.
The high-society figure was married to the late art dealer and billionaire Alec N. Wildenstein, the son of the French art dealer and horse breeder, Daniel Wildenstein.
Their family owned Wildenstein & Co., a well-known art dealership in Paris.
Jocelyn became fascinated with Africa and its fauna after discovering a box of picture books about the continent as a child.
Later, she developed an interest in hunting and wildlife, which led her to the Wildenstein family ranch, Ol Jogi, in Kenya.
Adnan Khashoggi, a Saudi arms dealer, introduced her to Alec while on safari.
Jocelyn recalled Alec’s decision to kill a lion that was killing nearby antelope, so she joined him on a pre-dawn mission.
She described how, after her future husband killed the lion with a single shot and a second for good measure, they ate a portion of the animal as a trophy and rubbed its blood on their necks.
“You must eat a part of the heart of your game,” she told me. “This is legend. Perhaps to gain the power of the lion.”
However, by the 1990s, Wildenstein’s face had been transformed by numerous cosmetic surgeries, leaving her completely unrecognizable.
They left her with slanted cat eyes, a prominent chin, and exaggerated cheekbones, resembling a lion’s face.
Despite the obvious change in her appearance, Wildenstein once claimed to have never had plastic surgery.
She has recently admitted to having some procedures, though she continues to minimize the impact.
Alec filed for divorce in 1999 after years of excessive spending and seemingly endless cosmetic procedures, but Jocelyn claims she was the one who first decided to end the marriage due to her husband’s infidelities.
Although he filed for divorce in Switzerland, where Jocelyn was less likely to receive a large divorce settlement, she received what should have been a windfall: a reported $2.5 billion.
Furthermore, her ex-husband, and later his estate, agreed to pay her $100 million per year for 13 years after his death in 2008 at the age of 67.
However, her ex-husband’s family discontinued the payments in 2015.
Despite accumulating more wealth than most people could ever imagine, Wildenstein managed to waste it on extravagant purchases of clothing, jewelry, art, and even tens of thousands of dollars in annual phone bills.
Following her divorce, Wildenstein began dating fashion designer Calvin Klein in 2003.
The couple eventually got engaged, but their relationship has been rocky over the years.
Wildenstein was arrested in 2016 after using scissors to slash Klein’s face during a fight at her Trump Tower apartment.
Klein was arrested several days later for robbery and assault after allegedly attempting to retrieve some of his belongings from Wildenstein’s apartment.
However, the couple did eventually reunite.
