Jocelyn Wildenstein will be cremated in the wake of her death on New Year’s Eve.
The Swiss socialite, who gained notoriety — and the moniker “Catwoman” for her plastic surgery that made her resemble a feline — died peacefully in her sleep while staying in a Parisian palace on Tuesday, December 31. She was 84 years old.
Wildenstein’s longtime partner, Lloyd Klein, told TMZ on Monday, January 6, that she’ll be cremated, with her remains transported to her ranch in Kenya following an intimate funeral in Paris. According to the outlet, the ranch is the site of her father’s grave and where her mother’s ashes are located.
Days earlier, Klein revealed to People that Wildenstein had battled phlebitis, which is inflammation of the veins near your skin due to blood clots.
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“Because of her phlebitis, the legs were very, very swollen, and the blood was blocked, and there was no oxygen in the brain,” Klein told the outlet on January 2. “And we were having a nap and when I woke up, I said, ‘Jocelyn, we have to wake up, we have to get dressed,’ and she was cold and she was dead.”
He noted at the time, “It’s very sad. … It’s extremely sad to lay down with your other half that I have known for 21 years and waiting to celebrate New Year’s Eve and to find her cold.”
Prior to her death, Wildenstein (born Jocelyne Périsset) garnered headlines for her exaggerated cosmetic surgery. Following her first surgical procedure in the late 1970s, observers began comparing Wildenstein’s eye lift to that of a lynx, which she kept as a pet.
Wildenstein was also known for her marriage to billionaire art dealer Alec Wildenstein. The two wed in 1978 and divorced in 1999. Their split and legal battle received heavy media coverage, with Alec telling Vanity Fair at the time that he lacked a say in how much surgery his then-wife had, despite reports that he encouraged her dramatic physical transformation.
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“She was crazy. I would always find out last,” he claimed, according to The Times. “She was thinking that she could fix her face like a piece of furniture. Skin does not work that way. But she wouldn’t listen.”
Jocelyn, for her part, told The Times in June 2023 that her ex-husband had “hired a publicist and paid a plastic surgeon to certify that I completely changed my face” so he could “win the divorce.”
However, Jocelyn — who was also dubbed “the Bride of Wildenstein” because of her surgeries — triumphed in the end. She reportedly won $2.5 billion in the divorce, laughing all the way to the bank.
Alec died in 2008 after a battle with cancer, and Jocelyn moved on with Klein in 2003. She met the designer after attending one of his Lloyd Klein Couture fashion shows. He was reported to have proposed to Jocelyn in 2017 at the Versace Mansion in Miami.
