NOTHING TO LOSE

She's as notorious for her face as she is for her $2,5-billion divorce. Now, at age 82, reclusive New York socialite Jocelyn Wildenstein is starring in a documentary about her life and telling her side of the story the ex-husband, the cosmetic surgery and why she's broke

- JANE MULKERRINS

IT WAS her bitter and record-breakingly lucrative divorce that catapulted her into the spotlight in the late '90s - but soon it was Jocelyn Wildenstein's face that became the story.

This was a time when dramatic cosmetic surgery was still relatively rare, even among the ranks of the ultra-wealthy and here was a woman who made no secret of the fact that she'd gone under the knife, not just once but multiple times.

The Swiss-born New York socialite became known as "Catwoman", "the Bride of Wildenstein" and the poster child for plastic surgery gone wrong.

She was publicly and brutally vilified, cruelly cast as a freakish cosmetic-surgery addict. And sympathy was not stoked by the stories of her jaw-dropping extravagance: dropping $350 000 (then R1,4 million) on a Chanel dress and $10m (then R40m) on jewellery. Jocelyn reportedly once calculated her yearly telephone bill at $60 000 (R240 000) and, at one point, her average monthly spend at $1m (then R4m).

In 1998, while her $2,5-billion divorce (then about R18,75bn) was being slugged out over two years in Manhattan courtrooms, she and her future ex-husband, Alec Wildenstein - scion of the world's most powerful art-dealing family - traded blows via interviews in Vanity Fair. But in the 25 years since, Jocelyn (now 82) has largely flown under the radar.

"I've never been public. It's not my nature," she says - and little has been seen or heard of her beyond a few front-row fashion show appearances, occasional reports of financial challenges and the odd paparazzi picture with her longtime fiancé, 56-year-old French-Canadian designer Lloyd Klein.

Now, she's seemingly ready to step out again and to speak out. Jocelyn is the subject of a forthcoming two-part HBO documentary, and has just finished filming the pilot for a reality TV show, produced by the team behind Keeping Up with the Kardashians.

The obvious question (among others) is, why now?