Jocelyn Wildenstein
Jocelyn Wildenstein | |
|---|---|
| Born | Jocelyne Périsset 1940 or 7 September 1945 |
| Died | 31 December 2024 Paris, France |
| Known for | Extensive facial surgeries |
| Spouse | |
| Partner | Lloyd Klein (2003–2024; her death) |
| Children | 2 |
Jocelyn Alice Wildenstein[a] (née Jocelyne Périsset; 1940 or 7 September 1945[b] – 31 December 2024) was a Swiss socialite[5] known for her extensive cosmetic surgery, which created a cat-like facial appearance; her 1999 high-profile divorce from billionaire art dealer and businessman Alec Wildenstein;[6][7] and her extravagant lifestyle and subsequent bankruptcy filing.
Early life and relationships
[edit]Jocelyn Alice Wildenstein[8] was born as Jocelyne Périsset in Lausanne, Switzerland.[b][9][10] Her father Armand Périsset worked in a sporting goods store and her mother Liliane Périsset was a housewife.[9] She began dating Swiss Cyril Piguet, producer of the 1964 film Un commerce tranquille, at the age of 17.[11] She later lived in Paris with Italian French filmmaker Sergio Gobbi.[12] While there, she became a skilled hunter and pilot.[5]
Périsset was introduced to Alec N. Wildenstein, of the family of wealthy art dealers,[13] by Saudi arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi at a shooting weekend at the Wildenstein ranch "Ol Jogi" in Kenya in 1977.[14][10] Périsset and Wildenstein eloped to Las Vegas on 30 April 1978.[10] They had two children together.[15]
The Wildensteins' divorce in 1999[6][14] was not amicable.[16] Jocelyn walked in on her husband and a 21-year-old Russian model in her bedroom at the couple's New York City home, and he threatened Jocelyn with a gun.[17][18] This resulted in a night in jail for Alec Wildenstein.[18] The presiding judge, Marilyn Diamond, received death threats in the mail during the proceedings.[19] During her divorce, the judge stipulated that she could not use any alimony payments for further cosmetic surgery.[20] Jocelyn enlisted the services of Ed Rollins[12][21] for public-relations assistance and at various times both Bernard Clair[12][22] and Kenneth Godt[23] for legal counsel. Wildenstein began dating fashion designer Lloyd Klein in 2003.[24]
Cosmetic surgery
[edit]Wildenstein had extensive cosmetic surgeries to her face.[25] Her cat-like appearance[26] led media outlets to nickname her "Catwoman", "The Lion Queen", and "The Bride of Wildenstein".[27] She denied having excessive plastic surgery, citing her Swiss heritage,[26] but admitted to a multimillion dollar surgery to make her eyes more cat-like,[28] which she did with her husband.[10] According to Alec Wildenstein, "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".[10]
Finances
[edit]Wildenstein was known for having lived her life in an extravagant manner. She once calculated her yearly telephone bill at $60,000 and food and wine costs at $547,000.[13] Wildenstein received $2.5 billion in her divorce settlement (although this amount has been rumored to be as high as $3.8 billion[29]) and $100 million each year for the following 13 years.[30] The judge stipulated that she could not use any alimony payments for further cosmetic surgery.[20] Following her divorce, Wildenstein sold the marital home in New York City to real estate developer Janna Bullock for $13 million.[31]
Wildenstein filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2018, claiming she had $0 in her bank account and listing various tangible assets of $16.39 million against $6.38 million in liabilities.[32] Her three apartments in Trump Tower were repossessed in 2020. Wildenstein told The Times in 2023 that she attributed her financial difficulties to problems with the trust set up following her divorce, and that the family of Alec Wildenstein had cut her off from payments in 2015.[33]
Death
[edit]Wildenstein died from a pulmonary embolism at a hotel in Paris on 31 December 2024.[34]
References
[edit]- ^ a b Green, Penelope (3 January 2025). "Jocelyne Wildenstein, Socialite and Tabloid 'Catwoman,' Dies at 79". The New York Times. Retrieved 3 January 2025.
- ^ Mulkerrins, Jane (17 June 2023). "What happened to the Bride of Wildenstein and her $2.5 billion?". The Times. Retrieved 3 January 2025.
- ^ "Jocelyn Wildenstein obituary: socialite dubbed 'bride of Wildenstein' dies aged 84". The Times. 1 January 2025. Retrieved 2 January 2025.
- ^ "Swiss socialite Jocelyne Wildenstein, famed for her extensive plastic surgery, dies in Paris". ABC News. 1 January 2025. Retrieved 3 January 2025.
Mr Klein told the agency she had died aged 79, while other outlets reported she was 84 at the time of her death.
- ^ a b McCracken 2008, p. 25.
- ^ a b Dunford 2009, p. 181.
- ^ DeMello 2007, pp. 13, 36.
- ^ "The Crazy Life of Billionaire Socialite Jocelyn Wildenstein". MSN. Archived from the original on 10 May 2017. Retrieved 21 October 2016.
- ^ a b Konigsberg 1997, p. 34.
- ^ a b c d e "Jocelyne's Revenge". Vanity Fair. 9 March 1998. Retrieved 8 March 2023.
- ^ Konigsberg 1997, p. 35.
- ^ a b c Carlin, Peter Ames (26 January 1998). "Surgical Strike". People Magazine. 49 (3). ISSN 0093-7673. Retrieved 4 January 2012.
- ^ a b Felder & Victor 2011.
- ^ a b Faith, Nicholas (22 February 2008). "Alec Wildenstein: Art dealer and racehorse owner who divorced in a blaze of publicity". The Independent. Archived from the original on 9 June 2022. Retrieved 4 February 2012.
- ^ Heigl, Alex (9 December 2016). "The Famous Life and Face of Jocelyn Wildenstein". People. Retrieved 7 February 2017.
- ^ Crowley 2005, pp. 164–165.
- ^ "People & Places: Art dealer admits he pulled gun on wife". Spartanburg Herald-Journal. 9 September 2000. p. A2. Retrieved 9 February 2012.
- ^ a b Konigsberg 1997, p. 32.
- ^ Felder 2004, pp. 122–126.
- ^ a b Portmann 2004, p. 66.
- ^ Grove, Lloyd (9 June 2000). "The Reliable Source". The Washington Post. Retrieved 4 February 2012.
- ^ Gupte, Pranay (17 May 2005). "It's Personal for a Top NYC Divorce Lawyer". The Sun. New York. Retrieved 4 February 2012.
- ^ "Jocelyn gives bankrupt beau the brush-off". New York Post. 10 November 1999. p. 30. Archived from the original on 17 July 2012. Retrieved 4 February 2012. (subscription required) for full content.
- ^ "Jocelyn Wildenstein's Boyfriend Lloyd Klein Reveals What Happened the Night of the Attack". PEOPLE.com.
- ^ Jones 2008, p. 123.
- ^ a b McCarthy, Tyler (13 February 2018). "'Catwoman' Jocelyn Wildenstein denies having any plastic surgery, cites her Swiss heritage". Fox News.
- ^ "The crazy life of billionaire socialite Jocelyn Wildenstein". PressFrom – AU.
- ^ Wet, Nici de. "Stop posting fake pictures of me, rants Catwoman who claims she's never had plastic surgery". You. Retrieved 8 March 2023.
- ^ Corbett, Rachel (23 August 2023). "The Inheritance Case That Could Unravel an Art Dynasty". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 14 September 2023.
- ^ Petridou, Ria (29 September 2011). "Queens of plastic: Jocelyn Wildenstein". Fashion Love. Archived from the original on 30 September 2011. Retrieved 4 February 2012.
- ^ Greene, Penelope (26 July 2007). "Buy High, Sell Higher". The New York Times. Retrieved 4 February 2012.
- ^ Paul Schrodt (17 July 2018). "How the Former Billionaire Known as 'Catwoman' Went Bankrupt With $0 in Her Bank Account". Money.com. Retrieved 27 August 2024.
- ^ Jane Mulkerrins (17 June 2023). "What happened to the Bride of Wildenstein and her $2.5 billion?". The Times. Retrieved 27 August 2024.
- ^ "Exclu – Jocelyne Wildenstein : la femme "chat" est décédée hier soir à Paris". Public. 1 January 2025. Retrieved 1 January 2025.
Bibliography – books
[edit]- Cottom, Daniel (2006), Unhuman culture (illustrated ed.), University of Pennsylvania Press, ISBN 978-0-8122-3956-0
- Crowley, Kieran (2005). Almost Paradise: The Murder of Multimillionaire Ted Ammon in the Hamptons. New York: St. Martin's. ISBN 978-0-312-99913-1.
- DeMello, Margo (2007). Encyclopedia of body adornment. Westport, CT: Greenwood. ISBN 978-0-313-33695-9.
- Dunford, Martin (2009). The Rough Guide to New York City (11 ed.). London: Rough Guides. ISBN 978-0-8070-1618-3.
- Felder, Raoul (2004). "The Wildenstein Divorce". Bare Knuckle Negotiation. Hoboken: Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-0-471-46333-7.
- Felder, Raoul; Victor, Barbara (2011). "The Wildenstein Case". The Good Divorce: How to Walk Away Financially Sound and Emotionally Happy. St. Martin's Press. ISBN 978-0-312-59296-7.
- Jones, Jessica Dorfman (2007). The Art of Cheating. New York: Pocket. ISBN 978-1-4165-4913-0.
- Jones, Meredith (2008). Skintight: an Anatomy of Cosmetic Surgery. Oxford: Berg Publishers. ISBN 978-1-84520-669-7.
- McCracken, Grant David (2008). Transformations: Identity Construction in Contemporary Culture. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-253-21957-2.
- Portmann, John (2004). Bad for Us: the lure of self-harm. Boston: Beacon Press. ISBN 978-0-8070-1618-3.
- Tebbel, Cyndi (2000), The body snatchers: how the media shapes women (illustrated ed.), Sydney: Finch, ISBN 978-1-876451-07-3
Bibliography – periodicals
[edit]- Konigsberg, Eric (15 December 1997). "What Money Can't Buy". New York. 30 (48): 31–37, 109, 116. ISSN 0028-7369. Retrieved 5 February 2012.
Notes
[edit]- ^ On whether to use a second "e" at the end of her forename, Wildstein once told The Times, "People in Europe want to put the 'e' and in America, they don't put the 'e' – it came on and off, this 'e'".[1][2]
- ^ a b Wildenstein was reported to have been born in 1940,[3] but other sources reported she was born in 1945,[1] with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation noting the discrepancy.[4]
External links
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