She’s best known for her buzzy marriage and her numerous plastic surgeries that left her completely unrecognizable.
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.
After her divorce settlement, she quickly ascended to the ranks of the world’s wealthiest individuals. The settlement awarded her over billion in assets, in addition to a generous yearly income totaling millions.
But she somehow managed to lose it all after years of tinkering with her face and spending on countless luxuries.
Can you name this famous socialite?
She’s known for her marriage to a wealthy art dealer, but she frittered away billions after their divorce and made herself unrecognizable from years of plastic surgery. Do you know who she is?
She’s Jocelyn Wildenstein, who has been dubbed the ‘Catwoman’ due to her pronounced cat eyes and leonine features.
The 84-year-old high society fixture — born Jocelyne Périsset — 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.
She’s Jocelyn Wildenstein, the 84-year-old socialite dubbed the ‘Catwoman’ due to her distinctive facial features caused by multiple cosmetic procedures; seen in 2022 in NYC
Her throwback photo was taken at the Kenyan ranch of her late ex-husband Alec N. Wildenstein, where they met in 1977 before eloping in Las Vegas in 1978; pictured in 2000 in Paris
‘You must eat a part of the heart of your game,’ she said. ‘It’s legend. Maybe to take the power of the lion.’
Wildenstein, 84, looked stunning youthful in the photo, which was taken at her ex-husband’s ranch Ol Jogi.
She wore a navy T-shirt with the ranch’s name printed on top and a lion’s face glaring out over her midriff.
Wildenstein highlighted her svelte figure with a pair of tight tan cargo shorts that cut off high on her thighs, and she added some sparkle to the functional ensemble with a gold luxury wristwatch.
The blond beauty stood with her hand out against a tree branch, and she covered up her hair with a wide-brimmed straw hat. She had brought a camera along that dangled from a strap around her neck, along with her sunglasses.
‘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 on in her relationship with Wildenstein
But by the ’90s, Jocelyn was completely unrecognizable after her face was transformed from numerous cosmetic surgeries.
Jocelyn lived a life of luxury with Wildenstein, but they divorced in 2000, allegedly after she discovered his infidelities. She won a stunning $2.5B in the divorce, plus $100M to be paid annually for 13 years; pictured in 1997 in Manhattan
But the lion-faced socialite frittered away the fortune through extravagant purchases. She also claims a painting comprising part of her trust turned out to be a forgery, while another was auctioned for tens of millions less than expected; seen in 2017 in NYC
They left her with slanted cat eyes, a prominent chin and exaggerated cheek bones, which some have compared to a lion’s face.
Despite the obvious change in her appearance, Wildenstein at one time bizarrely claimed to have never had plastic surgery.
More recently she has owned up to having some procedures, though she still downplays its impact.
In the wake of years of over-the-top spending and seemingly unending cosmetic procedures, Alec filed for divorce in 1999, though Jocelyn has said she was the one to first decide to end the marriage due to her husband’s infidelities.
Although he filed for divorce in Switzerland, where Jocelyn was less likely to get a significant divorce settlement, she ended up receiving what should have been a windfall — a reported $2.5 billion.
On top of that, she was to be paid $100 million per year for 13 years by her ex-husband, and later his estate following his death in 2008 at 67.
However, her ex-husband’s family cut off the payments in 2015.
Despite obtaining more wealth than most people could ever imagine, Wildenstein managed to fritter it away through extravagant purchases on clothing, jewels, art and even tens of thousands of dollars in annual phone bills.
The Swiss-born society fixture began dating fashion designer Lloyd Klein in 2003, and the two were later engaged; seen September 30 in Paris
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 take his belongings from her apartment. But the two reunited and are together to this day; seen in 2017 in NYC
In 2018, she claimed to Page Six that the vast majority of her wealth disappeared because one of the paintings that was part of the trust set up for her in the divorce settlement, attributed to Diego Velázquez, turned out to be a forgery, while a Cézanne that was expected to go for around $35 on auction only sold for $4.7 million
Following her divorce, Wildenstein began dating the fashion designer Lloyd Klein in 2003.
The two later got engaged, but they have had a bump relationship over the years.
In 2016, Wildenstein was arrested for slashing Klein’s face with scissors during a fight at her Trump Tower apartment.
Klein was subsequently arrested days later for robbery and assault after he allegedly tried to retrieve some of his belongings from Wildenstein’s apartment.
But the couple later reunited, and they continue to be an item to this day, though they spend most of their time in Miami now.
