Jocelyn Wildenstein isn’t a household name, but this woman has garnered international attention due to her unusual appearance and unbelievable life events. Dubbed “Catwoman,” Wildenstein first gained notoriety in the ’90s with her highly publicized divorce from billionaire art dealer Alec Wildenstein. Her grotesque facial features, from the many plastic surgeries she has undergone, have kept her in the tabloids for decades. Despite being so much in the public eye, Wildenstein has more often than not been silent, keeping her personal life out of the limelight-mostly when raising her children. In one of the rare interviews she gave in 2018, she said, “When the children were growing, I didn’t want to speak about the family. I didn’t want it to fall back on them. But now they are adults, so I am free and can speak freely.” Below, read about Jocelyn Wildenstein, who rose to fame after her extensive surgeries took over, why she had them, the drama surrounding her divorce, and where she is now.
Early Life and Introduction to Glamour
Jocelyn Wildenstein was born in Lausanne, Switzerland, where she grew up in an idyllic childhood filled with many outdoor activities, which include bathing in the local lake during summer and skiing in the mountains come winter. She wore her background as “fantastic,” a time when she was free to explore the beauty of nature. It was, however, in Paris, to which she relocated with her then-boyfriend, Swiss film director Cyril Piguet, that Wildenstein grew to appreciate glamour and the finer things in life.
Her love for Africa, which later she would term “paradise,” greatly influenced what path her life would take. It was the sense of adventure and the abundance of life that drew her into the continent, which became a life-changing event in 1977. In Ol Jogi, a Kenyan home, wildlife conservancy, and ranch, the then-31-year-old Jocelyn met the billionaire heir to an art-dealing, horse-breeding, and business empire, Alec Wildenstein. Instantly, their affair began. Speaking very little French and he none at all of English didn’t take long before their lips first touched. Soon after, Alec took Jocelyn to Paris and proposed; the couple married in Las Vegas on April 30, 1978, less than five months from the date of their first meeting.
A Life of Luxury and the Road to Infamy
For nearly twenty years, Jocelyn and Alec Wildenstein led a life of consummate luxury, reportedly spending one million dollars a month on their riotous lifestyle. The couple had two children, a son named Alec Jr., and a daughter named Diane. Though the couple had children and their dynasty looked stable, in reality they managed to keep out of the public eye until the late 1990s.
The turning point came in April 1997 when Alec filed for divorce. Then, in September, Jocelyn came to one of their Manhattan homes to find Alec with a young Russian model, Yelena Jarikova. The incident spiraled out of control when Alec reportedly pulled a gun on Jocelyn and was arrested. Released without bail, the judge ordered Alec to keep away from Jocelyn and their Manhattan home. Since their divorce proceedings were very high-profile, Jocelyn immediately found herself in the middle of constant attention from all walks of life.
The Obsession with Plastic Surgery
One of the most intriguing parts of Jocelyn Wildenstein’s story is how her face changed over time—thanks to repeated plastic surgeries. Alec said that he and Jocelyn started getting plastic surgery together a year after they married so that they could have his-and-hers eye lifts. But while Alec stopped with one round of plastic surgery, Jocelyn kept going and going, with Alec allegedly nagging her to stay young. She even claimed one reason she’d had so many facelifts was that Alec “hates to be with old people.”
Eventually, Jocelyn’s face was transformed to the extent that many people referred to her as “Catwoman” due to its resemblance to a cat. Contrary to the assumption of most people, she insisted that her facial outlook was partly natural, and her “cat eyes” just like her cheekbones were inherited from her grandmother. A friend of Jocelyn is quoted as saying, “I don’t think I’ve known her when she wasn’t healing from something,” an indication of the fact that she had devoted most of her life to changing her appearance.
The Divorce Drama and After
The Jocelyns and Alec Wildenstein’s was one of the most public and acrimonious divorces in history. The divorce took almost two years for the whole trial since the couple was airing their complaints about each in courts. She had previously accused Jocelyn of being a “courtesan” of Paris’ leading brothel owner, a woman known as Madam Claude, before the two hooked up. Her husband found out.
Finally, Jocelyn received an incredible $2.5 billion as a divorce settlement and one more additional hundred-million dollars per year for 13 years. But the judge put a very strange condition that she could not perform more cosmetic surgeries in her life with the help of the money she got in the settlement. Looking back at her divorce in 2018, Jocelyn noted with sadness the breakup of her marriage and how substantially Alec had changed over the period of time. “You think you know a person, and then poof, something happens, and it’s really not that person at all,” she said.
A New Chapter: Engagement and Legal Troubles
After a divorce that occurred after her marriage with them, Jocelyn Wildenstein went ahead to find love in the hands of one Lloyd Klein, a fashion designer. The two lovebirds began an affair that led to dating in 2003 after meeting each other officially during New York Fashion Week. Their relationship has been full of thorns, though. In 2016, a domestic quarrel broke between them; the result was arrest for both of them and charges of assault. How strange the incident was, it only triggered them to reunite and get engaged in 2017.
Their relationship was rocky, and after a few months, there was an arrest once again. They stayed together, though, and for the past few years, have expressed a desire to collaborate on a documentary series about Jocelyn’s life. Klein, has further gone to say he would prefer the Hollywood actress Jennifer Lawrence to feature as the younger Jocelyn, in case of a movie series about his life.
Financial Difficulty and Search for Freedom
Despite receiving huge sums as part of a divorce settlement, in recent times, Jocelyn Wildenstein has run into financial difficulties. Last year, she filed for bankruptcy protection after complaining that she had been completely cut off from much of her divorce settlement. Jocelyn, while explaining problems with money, indicated in a 2023 interview that she has been totally cut off from the settlement for the last eight years.
But Jocelyn, for her part, has found comfort in new independence. She jets about as often as she always did between Miami, New York City, Paris, and Canada, but now she has even managed to get her commercial pilot’s license—not that a pilot’s license is much use when the plane you want to fly is too small for a co-pilot. Looking back on her life post-divorce, Jocelyn reflected, “I had a lot of fun. I found freedom, and instead of having to behave according to a program, I could suddenly have the freedom to appreciate it.”
Conclusion
Jocelyn Wildenstein’s perfectly suits the life of peaks and dips associated with a life in the limelight, replete with money and the chase for beauty. Right from her early days in Switzerland to her turbulent marriage, obsession with plastic surgery, and financial struggle, Jocelyn Wildenstein remains a point of interest. She still pursued life on her own terms, living with the freedom of having relinquished her past. Now, looking into the future, her tale is still one of resilience and reinvention, proof that even in the face of adversity, one can somehow thrive.
