The crazy life of billionaire Jocelyn Wildenstein, known as "catwoman"
76-year-old Jocelyn Wildenstein is famous for her high-profile divorces with huge amounts of compensation, as well as the appearance gained through a large number of plastic surgeries. Despite the fact that the Swiss-born woman received $ 2.5 billion from her ex-husband Alec, who was engaged in the sale of expensive works of art, during a divorce in the late 1990s, the woman announced last week that she was bankrupt.
Worldwide media attention to Jocelyn was attracted not only by the fabulous payment of the ex-spouse. Her pursuit of a more "feline" appearance in order to please her husband was scrupulously documented by the tabloids. In December, her 14-year marriage to French designer Lloyd Klein broke up. There were rumors of domestic violence on both sides, but both spouses deny it.
But what else is known about the "catwoman", whose appearance simply screams about the obsession with plastic surgery? It turns out that she is a successful hunter and pilot, and also loves art and decor.
Jocelyn Wildenstein — born Jocelynnis Diannis da Silva Bezerra Perriset, was born on August 5, 1940 in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Little is known about her childhood in a middle-class family, except that she was the daughter of a struggling department store manager.
At the age of 17, her life changed. She started dating Swiss film producer Cyril Piguet. Jocelyn later told New York magazine that two years later they moved to Paris. "Then my life changed. Lausanne is very boring, but I started meeting amazing, brilliant people," she said.
In an interview, Jocelyn noted that she never tried to build a career, as she had "another talent." "I've never worried about my career. I'm very good at decorating. I probably even decorate it very well."
Later, Jocelyn had an affair with the European director Sergio Gobbi, which lasted five years. She spent a lot of time exploring Africa, a continent she really fell in love with. "Africa is a paradise. There are people there who look at life differently. They love adventures," she said in an interview with New York magazine.
Her social life allowed her to move in the highest circles around the world. Jocelyn met Saudi arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi (pictured with his wife) thanks to his love of hunting. In Africa, he introduced Jocelyn to her future husband Alec Wildenstein.
In 1977, Jocelyn met Alec on safari with friends in Kenya. Alec Wildenstein came from a family of art collectors and experts in the field of horse racing. Jocelyn told Vanity Fair magazine that on their first date, they climbed to the top of a hill on motorcycles and kissed for the first time. The picture shows Alec's brother Guy (left) at the Monet exhibition.
On April 30, 1978, Alec and Jocelyn were secretly married in Las Vegas. But when they had their second wedding in Lausanne, Alec's father Daniel did not show up. "He was against marriage in principle. My father checks everything. He tried to warn me," Alec told Vanity Fair magazine. The couple had two children, Diana and Alec Jr.
A year after the wedding, Jocelyn began spending her wealth on large-scale cosmetic surgeries. She and Alec had blepharoplasty. As many biographers have written, Jocelyn constantly changed her face to look more like a cat.
According to the Daily Mail, she spent 2 million pounds on operations to please her husband, who adored big cats. The woman got a lynx as a pet and told Vanity Fair that lynxes have perfect eyes.
Alec Wildenstein confessed in an interview: "She went crazy. I was always the last to find out. She thought she could fix her face like some furniture. That's not how the skin works. But she didn't listen to me."
In 1997, Jocelyn found her husband in bed with 21-year-old Russian model Elena Zharikova. As a result, a quarrel broke out, during which Alec allegedly aimed a gun at Jocelyn and then spent the night in prison. That year, Alec left Jocelyn and the divorce process began.
The process was complicated and dragged on for two years. Alec told Vanity Fair that, according to rumors, Jocelyn once worked as a courtesan for Madame Claude, the owner of a Parisian brothel.
Vanity Fair told in detail that because of the divorce, Alec quarreled with the children, as he blocked Jocelyn's phone and credit cards, cut her monthly allowance from $150,000 to $50,000 and fired her accountant.
The close attention of the press to the divorce had a bad effect on Jocelyn, who was fixated on her appearance. Tabloids called her "the bride of Wildenstein" (by analogy with the bride of Frankenstein) and "catwoman". To combat this, she hired Edward Rollins (pictured), who advised the Republican Party's PR campaign, as her PR man.
As a result, Jocelyn was awarded 2.5 billion in one-time compensation, as well as $ 100 million annually for 13 years after the divorce. Nevertheless, the judge ruled that she had no right to use these funds for any further plastic surgery.
In 2001, Alec inherited half of his father's business empire, the value of which was estimated at $ 10 billion. It included one of the world's largest private art collections. It helped pay Jocelyn's alimony. Seven years later, Alec died at the age of 67. Since the divorce, Wildenstein has rarely appeared in public.
Jocelyn got into the lenses of the cameras of photographers only when she attended fashion shows with her boyfriend, designer Lloyd Klein. He makes outfits for various pop artists, including Nicki Minaj and Pink. The couple started dating in the early 2000s.
In December 2016, their relationship suddenly broke down after a violent quarrel in Jocelyn's apartment.
Wildenstein was first arrested on charges that she scratched Klein's face and stabbed him with scissors in a fight. Klein claimed that he had to lock Jocelyn in the dressing room until the police arrived so that she would stop attacking him. In the video, the former socialite hits Klein with a metal tray while he tries in vain to calm her down.
Just a few days later, Klein was arrested on charges that he pushed Jocelyn to the floor when he returned to her apartment for things. Klein's representative told People magazine that his client is fully cooperating with the investigation in this case and that the arrest occurred on false charges.
Photo posted by LLOYD KLEIN (@lloydklein_beverlyhills) Jun 9, 2016 at 10:13AM PDT
According to the tabloid, Klein also took Jocelyn's iPhone, another mobile phone, a Swiss identity card and a credit card.
At the end of December, Jocelyn gave an interview in which she stated that she became bankrupt after her ex-husband's family stopped paying her annual compensation.
Keywords: Americans | Biography | Face | Billionaires | Plastic surgery | Usa