Jocelyn Wildenstein
Craig Barritt/Getty ImagesJocelyn Wildenstein died on Tuesday, December 31. She was 84.
Wildenstein partner, Lloyd Kleintold AFP the Swiss socialite died in Paris while at a palace after suffering a pulmonary embolism, according to Paris match. A pulmonary embolism is a blood clot that “blocks and stops the flow of blood” to an artery in the lung, according to Mayo Clinic.
“An icon is gone,” Klein told the publication, noting that he feels “pain” over the loss of Wildenstein.
Before her death, Wildenstein (born Jocelyn Perisset) made headlines for herself extreme plastic surgery which made her look like a cat. The work earned her the nickname “The Catwoman.”
After her first surgery in the late 1970s, fans began comparing Wildenstein’s eye lift to that of a lynx he had as a pet.
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Jocelyn was also famous for her marriage to a billionaire art dealer Alec Wildenstein. They married in 1978. and divorced in 1999. Their separation and legal battle were heavily covered by the media.
Alec said Vanity Fair at the time of their split, he had no say in how many surgeries his wife had had, despite reports that he encouraged her to change her appearance.
“She was crazy. I would always be the last to learn,” he claims according to The Times. “She thought she could fix her face like a piece of furniture. Skin doesn’t work that way. But she wouldn’t listen.
Jocelyn said The Times in June 2023 that Alec “hired a publicist and paid a plastic surgeon to certify that I had completely changed my face” so he could “win the divorce.”
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In the end, though, Jocelyn, who was also called the “Bride of Wildenstein” in the press because of her surgeries, won out. She reportedly received $2.5 billion in the divorce.
She reportedly received an additional $100 million for each of the next 13 years. “They’re going to live happily ever after – but apart,” Alec’s lawyer is said to have said at the time. The Times. (Alec died in 2008 after a battle with cancer.)
Jocelyn moved on with Klein in 2003, whom she met after attending one of his Lloyd Klein Couture fashion shows. The designer reportedly proposed to Jocelyn in 2017. at the Versace Mansion in Miami.
In 2023 Klein claims Jocelyn is broke. She later claimed she had not received any payments from Wildenstein since 2015, leading to her filing for bankruptcy three years later.
“I have a huge problem with my settlement,” Jocelyn said The Times in June 2023 “For eight years, they completely cut me off.” Her lack of funds led Jocelyn to star in her own HBO docuseries in 2023.
Jocelyn is survived by her and Alec’s children, son Alec Jr. and daughter Diane.
