Jocelyn Wildenstein passed away at the age of 84.
The socialite, known for her numerous facial cosmetic procedures in the hopes of resembling a cat, died Tuesday in Paris from a pulmonary embolism.
The star, born Jocelyne Périsset, was in a Parisian palace at the time of her death, the outlet reported. Paris Party.
“Her partner Lloyd Klein is sad to announce the death of Jocelyn Wildensetein in Paris,” AFP shared.
She was last seen looking healthy on December 18 in Paris when she was with Klein.
The star smiled at viewers while wearing a leather jacket, leggings and boots while wearing black sunglasses and her blonde hair in soft waves over her shoulders.
She was nicknamed The Cat Woman because of her pronounced cat eyes and leonine features.
Jocelyn Wildenstein has died. The socialite, known for her numerous facial cosmetic procedures in the hopes of resembling a cat, died Tuesday in Paris. Seen in 1998
She was last seen looking well on December 18 in Paris. The star smiled at viewers while wearing a coat, leggings and boots while wearing black sunglasses and her blonde hair in soft waves over her shoulders. With partner Lloyd Klein
He had more than 1 million followers on Instagram and called himself an “art dealer.”
This Swiss-born socialite came from humble beginnings, only to marry a French-born American billionaire in the 1970s.
But the two made headlines just over two decades later with their messy divorce.
She became one of the richest people on the planet after her divorce, which left her with more than $2 billion, plus millions more annually.
But somehow she managed to lose it all after years of retouching her face and spending on countless luxuries.
The socialite was married to the late art dealer and billionaire Alec N. Wildenstein, who was the son of French art dealer and horse breeder Daniel Wildenstein.
His family presided over Wildenstein & Co., an influential art dealer based in Paris.
while talking to The London TimesJocelyn described how she became fascinated by Africa and its wildlife after finding a box of illustrated books about the continent when she was a child.
Later, she developed an interest in hunting and wildlife, which led her to the Wildenstein family ranch, Ol Jogi, located in Kenya.
There, Adnan Khashoggi, a Saudi arms dealer, introduced her to Alec on a safari.
Jocelyn remembered how Alec decided to kill a lion that had been killing a nearby antelope, so she accompanied him on a pre-dawn mission.
She told how, after her future husband took down the lion with a single shot, plus a second for good measure, they ate part of the animal as a kind of trophy and rubbed its blood on their necks.
Seen in 2022 in New York
Her throwback photo was taken at her late ex-husband Alec N. Wildenstein’s Kenyan ranch, where they met in 1977 before eloping to Las Vegas in 1978; photographed in 2000 in Paris
“You have to eat a part of the heart of your game,” he said. ‘He’s a legend. Perhaps to take the power of the lion.
He recently shared a flashback photo.
“My first years in Ol Jogi building this beautiful ranch from scratch before having my children. This was my first love affair with Africa and it started here in #oljogi,” she captioned the stunning photo.
Although he did not date the photo, it appeared to have been taken in the late ’70s or early ’80s, at the beginning of his relationship with Wildenstein.
But in the ’90s, Jocelyn was completely unrecognizable after her face was transformed after numerous cosmetic surgeries.
Here’s a throwback photo of the star in her youth.
Jocelyn lived a life of luxury with Wildenstein, but they divorced in 2000, reportedly after she discovered his infidelities. He won a staggering $2.5 billion in the divorce, plus $100 million to be paid annually for 13 years; photographed in 1997 in Manhattan
But the lion-faced socialite squandered her fortune on extravagant purchases. He also claims that a painting that was part of his trust turned out to be a forgery, while another was auctioned for tens of millions less than expected; seen in 2017 in New York
They left her with slanted cat eyes, a prominent chin and exaggerated cheekbones, which some have compared to the face of a lion.
Despite the obvious change in her appearance, Wildenstein at one point bizarrely claimed that she had never had plastic surgery.
More recently he has acknowledged that he underwent some procedures, although he still downplays their impact.
After years of excessive spending and seemingly endless cosmetic procedures, Alec filed for divorce in 1999, although Jocelyn has said that she was the first to decide to end the marriage due to her husband’s infidelities.
Although she filed for divorce in Switzerland, where Jocelyn was less likely to get a meaningful divorce settlement, she ended up receiving what should have been a windfall: about $2.5 million.
On top of that, her ex-husband would pay her $100 million a year for 13 years, and later his estate after his death in 2008 at age 67.
However, her ex-husband’s family cut off payments in 2015.
Despite obtaining more wealth than most people could imagine, Wildenstein managed to squander it through extravagant purchases of clothing, jewelry, art, and even tens of thousands of dollars in annual phone bills.
Wildenstein was arrested for assault in 2016 after slashing Klein’s face with scissors, and he was arrested for robbery and assault days later while allegedly trying to steal his belongings from her apartment. But the two reunited and are together to this day; seen in 2017 in New York
In 2018, she told Page Six that the vast majority of her assets disappeared because one of the paintings that was part of the trust created for her in the divorce agreement, attributed to Diego Velázquez, turned out to be a forgery, while a Cézanne, which Expected to be auctioned for around $35, it only sold for $4.7 million.
Following her divorce, Wildenstein began dating fashion designer Lloyd Klein in 2003.
The two later became engaged, but have had a rocky relationship over the years.
In 2016, Wildenstein was arrested for slashing Klein’s face with scissors during a fight at their Trump Tower apartment.
Klein was subsequently arrested days later for robbery and assault after he allegedly attempted to retrieve some of his belongings from Wildenstein’s apartment.
But the couple later reunited.