NYC socialite Jocelyn Wildenstein, aka 'Catwoman' dead at 84

New York City socialite Jocelyn Wildenstein, also known as "Catwoman," has died at the age of 84. She suffered a pulmonary embolism while vacationing in France and passed away in a Parisian palace, the Daily Mail reported. Wildenstein is most famous for undergoing several plastic surgeries that gave her the appearance if looking like a cat.

Despite the well-documented procedures, Wildensten maintained as recently as last year that she has never had plastic surgery. She reportedly began undergoing the procedures while she was married to billionaire ex-husband Alec Wildenstein, who had a love for felines.

Alec and her friends suspected Jocelyn's goal was to look like a lynx. In 1998, she told Vanity Fair that "the lynx has perfect eyes." She then refuted plastic surgery claims, saying, "If I show you pictures of my grandmother, what you see is these eyes - cat eyes - and high cheekbones."

When asked if he pressured Jocelyn to get the surgeries, Alec, who died in 2008, denounced the allegations and told Vanity Fair: "She was crazy. I would always find out last. 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 was born in Switzerland under the maiden name Perisset. She married Alec Wildenstein in 1978. The two divorced years later and she received a $2.5 billion settlement, along with $100 million in annual payments for 13 years. However, she blew all the money and filed for bankruptcy in 2018, the New York Post reported.

She went on to have an unstable love affair with fashion designer Lloyd Klein beginning in 2003. Klein was with her in Paris at the time of her death. The couple made headlines over a 2016 domestic violence case. Wildenstein allegedly stabbed Klein with a pair of scissors at her Trump Tower apartment in New York City. She was arrested and taken into custody by police. 

Klein was arrested days later on assault and robbery charges stemming from the incident. He had allegedly been trying to retrieve his items from her apartment. However, both of their charges were dropped in early 2017 and the couple reunited and got engaged.

Wildenstein leaves behind her daughter, Dian, and son, Alec Jr.