Jocelyn Wildenstein’s partner, Lloyd Klein, detailed the 84-year-old’s “peaceful” final moments before her death.
The fashion designer, 57, told People on Wednesday that the late socialite, dubbed “Catwoman” for her extensive facial plastic surgery, died in her sleep on New Year’s Eve.
“We had a nice happy hour the same night, and we were getting ready for the new year,” he explained to the outlet. “We took a little nap just to look good before getting dressed.”
Klein recalled, “We were having a nap and when I [woke] up, I said, ‘Jocelyn, we have to wake up, we have to get dressed,’ and she was cold and she was dead.
“It’s very sad. It’s extremely sad,” he continued. “It’s extremely sad to lay down with your other half that I know for 21 years and waiting to celebrate New Year’s Eve and to find her cold.”
Klein claimed to the outlet that Wildenstein’s cause of death on Tuesday was phlebitis, which WebMD describes as inflammation of a vein.
“Because of her phlebitis, the legs were very, very swollen, and the blood was blocked, and there was no oxygen in the brain,” he said.
Daily Mail reported (via AFP) on Wednesday that Wildenstein died of a pulmonary embolism while in a Parisian palace.
Klein opened up to People about his fiancée’s “perfect” health prior to her passing, gushing that “everything was good” between them.
The duo had just enjoyed a “beautiful” holiday season.
He and Wildenstein began their on-again, off-again relationship in 2003, with Klein getting down on one knee in 2017.
She was previously married to Alec N. Wildenstein, with whom she welcomed daughter Diane and son Alec Jr.
Jocelyn became a billionaire after her contentious divorce from Alec in 1999.
While the late art dealer once claimed to Variety that Jocelyn’s plastic surgery procedures started during their time together, she bizarrely insisted to The Sun in November 2024 that she hasn’t had any work done.
At the time, she claimed to have done Botox only twice and refrained from ever getting fillers.
