The longtime partner of famous New York City socialite Jocelyn Wildenstein, 84, who passed away, is speaking out about her sudden death on Dec. 31.
Wildenstein was known for her obsession with having multiple plastic surgeries to achieve her feline “Catwoman” look. She and her longtime partner, Lloyd Klein, have been dating on and off for just over 21 years. They were enjoying a nice evening together when things took a turn for the worse.
“We had a nice happy hour the same night and we were getting ready for the new year,” Klein exclusively told People after her passing. “And we took a little nap just to look good before getting dressed.”
According to Klein, Wildenstein suffered from a medical condition known as phlebitis which is caused by inflammation of a vein. She reportedly died from a pulmonary embolism at a hotel in Paris.
“Because of her phlebitis, the legs were very, very swollen, and the blood was blocked, and there was no oxygen in the brain,” Klein revealed. “And we were having a nap and 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.”
Klein also insisted that “everything was good” with Jocelyn just days before she died on New Year’s Eve. He described their 2024 holiday season in France as “beautiful.”
Wildenstein gained worldwide notoriety because of her extensive cosmetic surgery. Her feline-like facial appearance led to the gossip press referring to her as “Catwoman.”
A year into the Swiss native’s marriage with her then-husband, billionaire art dealer Alec Wildenstein, the couple decided to get his-and-hers eye-lifts. That operation began her years-long journey to transform her look.
“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,” Alec stated in a 1998 interview with Vanity Fair.
Jocelyn also spoke to the magazine about her surgeries. She admitted Alec was not the driving force behind her cosmetic decisions, saying, “He never pushed me. … No, he all the time told me that I look very young.”
After meeting at the Weinstein family’s African ranch in 1977, Alec and Jocelyn eloped in Las Vegas the following year. Jocelyn gave birth to two children, a daughter, Diane, born in August 1979, and a son, Alec Jr., born in July 1980.
Jocelyn and Alec officially divorced in 1999 after a two-year process after she accused the father of her kids of having extramarital affairs. One report claimed she walked in on Alec with a 21-year-old Russian model in their bedroom.
Their headline-grabbing separation ended with Jocelyn walking away from the marriage with a reported $2.5 billion divorce settlement and an annual payment of $100 million for 13 years, per Reuters.
However, in May 2018, Jocelyn filed for bankruptcy. At one point she claimed $900 a month in Social Security payments was her only source of income.
Jocelyn was known for having lavish spending habits. Rumors suggested she and Alec spent around $1 million a month during their marriage.
Alec later married Russian model Liouba Stoupakova in 2000. He passed away on Feb. 18, 2008, at 67. Following her breakup from Alec in 1999, Jocelyn met her final beau, Klein, in 2003.
Many of Jocelyn’s fans flooded her verified Instagram page to offer condolences and leave positive messages in the wake of her death.
One comment read, “You lived 9 lives in one, till we meet again queen!” Another user posted, “She was iconic. I hope she’s at peace.”