Jocelyn Wildenstein, 75, is just as famous for her immense divorce settlement as she is for her looks.
The Swiss-born socialite was awarded $2.5 billion (£1.7 billion) in one of the biggest divorce settlements in history from her former elite art dealer and horse racing husband Alec in the late 1990s.
But the bumper payout wasn't the only thing that got her worldwide press — her penchant for surgery to make her face more "feline," allegedly to please her husband, has been widely reported.
There's more than meets the eye, though. Wildenstein is an accomplished hunter and pilot, and her love for "decoration" led her to meet her long-term boyfriend, French designer Lloyd Klein.
Check out her amazing life ...
Jocelyn Wildenstein was born as Jocelynnys Dayannys da Silva Bezerra Périsset on August 5, 1940 in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Not much is known about her upbringing in a middle class family in Switzerland other than that she was the daughter of a struggling department store buyer.
At the age of 17 her life completely changed — she started dating Swiss movie producer Cyril Piguet. She told New York Magazine that after two years they moved to Paris together. "My life changed then," she said. "Lausanne is very plain, but I began meeting exciting, glamorous people."
She told New York Magazine that she had never intended to pursue a career, instead she had a "different talent." "I never worry for my career. I am very good at decoration. I am maybe extremely good at decoration."
She later dated European filmmaker Sergio Gobbi for five years and spent a lot of her time exploring Africa, a continent she fell in love with. "Africa is a paradise. You meet people who look at life differently. They love the adventure," she said to New York Magazine.
Her life as a socialite let her move in elite circles across the world. She met Saudi arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi — pictured here with his wife — through her love of hunting. He introduced her to her future husband, Alec Wildenstein, in Africa.
Adnan and Lamir Khashoggi arrive at the Blindness premiere at the Palais des Festivals during the 61st International Cannes Film Festival on May 14, 2008 in Cannes, France.
In 1977 Wildenstein met Alec while on safari with friends in Kenya. Alec Wildenstein came from a family of art collectors and horse racing experts. She told Vanity Fair that "on their first day together, they rode motorcycles to a hilltop and shared their first kiss." Here is Alec's brother Guy on the left at a Monet exhibition.
On April 30, 1978, Alec and Jocelyn eloped in Las Vegas. However, at their second wedding ceremony in Lausanne afterwards, Alec's father Daniel was absent. “He was against marriage in general,” said Alec Wildenstein to Vanity Fair. "My father checks things out. My father tried to warn me.” They eventually went on to have two children — Diane and Alec Junior.
However, after one year of marriage, Jocelyn started to use her wealth for extensive cosmetic surgeries. She and Alec got "his and her eyelifts." According to a number of biographies, she continually changed her appearance to look more "feline."
According to the Daily Mail, she spent £2 million on surgeries to please her husband, who loved big cats. She kept a Lynx as a pet, telling Vanity Fair "the lynx has perfect eyes."
Alec Wildenstein 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.”
In 1997, Wildenstein claims she found her husband in bed with 21-year-old Russian model Yelena Jarikova, which led to an altercation where Alec allegedly pulled a gun on Jocelyn and spent the night in jail. Alec left Jocelyn that year and divorce proceedings started immediately.
The divorce was messy and dragged out for two years. Alec told Vanity Fair there were rumours Jocelyne had worked for Madame Claude, the famous Parisian bordello owner, as a courtesan at one point.
According to details in a long report by Vanity Fair, the divorce caused a rift between Alec and his children after he cut off Jocelyn's phone and credit cards, slashed her monthly allowance of $150,000 to $50,000, and fired her accountant.
The press coverage of the case was bad for Jocelyn, which centred on her looks. Tabloids dubbing her "The Bride of Wildenstein" and "Catwoman." In response, she hired Republican campaign consultant and advisor Edward Rollins to handle her PR.
Eventually, Jocelyn was awarded a $2.5 billion divorce settlement and $100 million each year for 13 years afterward. However, the judge stipulated that she could not use any of her divorce payments for further cosmetic surgery.
In 2001, Alec inherited half of his father Daniel's business empire, estimated at $10 billion. It included one of the world's largest private collections of art. It helped fund his alimony payments. Seven years later, however, Alec died aged 67.
Since the divorce, Wildenstein has kept a low profile and is rarely seen in public.
The only time she is pictured is when she attends her French designer boyfriend Lloyd Klein's fashion shows. They started dating in the early 2000s.
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