Jocelyn Wildenstein , the Swiss socialite nicknamed “Catwoman” because of her intense, animal-esque plastic surgery , has died at age 84. According to her partner Lloyd Klein, Wildenstein, born Jocelyne Périsset, died on New Year’s Eve in Paris . The couturier confirmed her cause of death was pulmonary embolism in a statement sent to People .
The celebrity had been diagnosed with phlebitis, the inflammation of a vein in the leg, which is what led to the artery blockage in her lungs. “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, explaining how he and Wildenstein had planned to take a nap before going out on December 31. “When I wake up, I said, ‘Jocelyn, we have to wake up, we have to get dressed,’ and she was cold and she was dead,” he continued.
Wildenstein’s death came as a massive shock to Klein, who’d known her for over 21 years. “We were at the Ritz two days ago. We were having dinner.
Before that, we had come for Fashion Week at Chanel. Everything was good, everything was good,” he noted. It wasn’t just Wildenstein’s feline-like appearance that intrigued the masses throughout her adult life.
The self-proclaimed art dealer was also highly-regarded for her hefty divorce settlement of $2.5 billion, which she reportedly blew through, leaving her living paycheck to paycheck in the last few months of her life. In 1978, she married her first a.