Extreme Makeover - Beauty The Jocelyn Wildenstein Style

As we count Kenya’s land owners, meet feline beauty extraordinaire Jocelyn Wildenstein who together with her former Billionaire husband Alec Wildenstein owned and managed the expansive 67,000 acre Ol Jogi ranch in Laikipia before they were divorced in 2000. She and Alec refined the ranch by building 120 miles of road, 55 artificial lakes, a swimming pool with rocks and waterfalls, a golf course, a racetrack, and a tennis court among others - all maintained by an army of 366 servants.

Land issues aside, the 1940 born Jocelyn is a skilled hunter and a trained pilot. Alec Wildenstein, who recently died of Cancer, loved jungle cats more than anything else in the world and feeling a little ignored, Jocelyn began to get somewhat jealous. Aside from decorating all their houses in cat skins and prints, she approached a renowned plastic surgeon with a rather unusual request. She wanted to be transformed into one of the giant cats that her then husband loved so much. She chose to have her pigment darkened and her eyes reconstructed and pulled back for that cat-like look. After countless surgeries, numerous facelifts and silicone injections, her skin was stretched so tightly over her face that she could scarcely blink, and her lips were so stuffed with collagen they looked and felt like rubber. The original Jocelyn disappeared and The Queen of the Jungle was born. She embarked on all these surgeries at 50yrs of age and spent in excess of US$4 Million over the years, bankrolled by her now late husband Alec. It is said that her surgeon has since lost several prospective clients due to her looks. At one time clients scampered out of the surgeon's waiting room when she walked in.

What Jocelyn may not have realized as she was formulating her audacious plan was that her husband loved cats as cats and not as a wife. The first time he saw his new wife he screamed. He later admitted during divorce proceedings that he could not recognize her up close. Who could blame him? He ran straight into the arms of a 19 year old Russian Model. He blamed the affair on his wife’s startling new look. That was just an excuse but then again maybe he was genuinely freaked out by her looks.

Beauty indeed lies in the eyes of the beholder. Jocelyn soon found love again, her new face notwithstanding.