High society fixture Jocelyn Wildenstein has died at the age of 84.
The Swiss socialite, nicknamed Catwoman because she reportedly had many facial cosmetic procedures in the hopes of resembling a cat, passed away on Tuesday in Paris from a pulmonary embolism.
The star, born Jocelyne Périsset, was taking a nap in a Parisian palace at the time of her death, it was reported by Paris Match.
“Her partner Lloyd Klein is saddened to announce the death of Jocelyn Wildenstein in Paris,” it was shared by AFP.
She was last seen looking healthy on Dec. 18 in Paris when with Klein. The star smiled at onlookers while in a fur jacket, leggings and boots as she wore black sunglasses and her blonde hair in soft waves over her shoulders.
She was nicknamed Catwoman due to her pronounced cat eyes and leonine features. She had over 1 million Instagram followers and described herself as an ‘art dealer.’
This Swiss-born socialite came from humble origins, only to tie the knot in the 1970s with a French-born American billionaire.
But the two courted headlines just over two decades later with their messy divorce. She became one of the wealthiest people on the planet after her divorce settlement, which left her with more than $2 billion, plus millions more annually. But she somehow managed to lose it all after years of tinkering with her face and spending on countless luxuries.
The high society fixture was married to the late art dealer and billionaire Alec N. Wildenstein, who was the son of the French art dealer and horse breeder Daniel Wildenstein. Their family presided over Wildenstein & Co., an influential Paris-based art dealership.
While speaking to The Times of London, Jocelyn described how she became fascinated by Africa and its fauna after finding a box of picture 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, she was introduced on a safari to Alec by Adnan Khashoggi, a Saudi arms dealer. Jocelyn recalled how Alec decided to kill a lion that had been killing nearby antelope, so she accompanied him on a pre-dawn mission.
She recounted how, after her future husband took down the lion with one 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.
“You must eat a part of the heart of your game,” she said. “It’s legend. Maybe to take the power of the lion.”
She recently shared a flashback photo.
“My early years at Ol Jogi building this beautiful ranch from scratch before having my children, This was my first love story with Africa and it started here at #oljogi,’ she captioned the stunning photo.
Although she didn’t date the photo, it appeared to have been taken in the late ‘70s or early ‘80s, early in her relationship with Wildenstein. AFP
