'Catwoman' Jocelyne Wildenstein, Cosmetic Surgery Aficionado, Dies At 79

Swiss socialite Jocelyne Wildenstein, also known as "catwoman" due to her extensive plastic surgery, has died aged 79, her partner said on Wednesday.

"It is with heavy heart and with great sadness that Mr Lloyd Klein announces the unexpected death of his beloved fiance and longtime companion Jocelyne Wildenstein," the fashion designer said in an English-language statement sent to AFP.

"Mrs Wildenstein died peacefully in her sleep in the late afternoon of December 31st, 2024 in her... suite in Paris where the couple had taken temporary residence since August of 2024," he added.

He tried to wake her from a nap so she could get ready for New Year's Eve dinner, but she was unresponsive, he said. "Early reports from the doctors called to the scene indicate that she had endured heart failure and passed peacefully in her sleep," Klein added.

Born in Switzerland in 1945, Jocelyne Perisset became a New York socialite after marrying art dealer Alec Wildenstein, with whom she had two children. She kept his name after their messy divorce in the late 1990s.

Some media reports gave her age as five years older. In a recent interview, she had blamed the confusion on people mixing up her birth year with that of her ex-husband, 1940.

The cosmetic surgery aficionado, with more than a million followers on Instagram, became known as "catwoman" in the tabloids for the feline-like shape of her eyes.

She had been living between New York and Miami, she told French media in recent months.

'$2.5-billion divorce'

Wildenstein last posted a video of herself and Klein posing for photographers outside the Ritz Paris on December 23, to the soundtrack of Wham's "Last Christmas".

"I never wanted to change my face," she told French television news channel C8 this autumn, though admitting she might have wanted her lips to be a little thicker.

She denied rumours she embarked on cosmetic surgery to try to keep her ex-husband. She received $2.5 billion from their divorce, making it one of the most expensive at the time, according to Klein.

Asked if she had found love again, she said she had with Klein, who was 21 years her junior.

Klein and Wildenstein "met during New York Fashion Week in 2001 when Lloyd was presenting his fashion collection on the runway," he said in his written statement.

"She was a front-row guest and after that show the two became romantically involved and had remained inseparable since that time."

"Jocelyne was my best friend, my partner, my fiance. She had a zest for life, and had a wicked sense of humour," he added.

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