The 57-year-old fashion designer spoke about finding the Swiss socialite Jocelyn Wildenstein after she died at age 84 while taking a nap on New Year’s Eve on Tuesday.
The couple, who had been engaged since 2017, had laid down to take a nap together and were anticipating ringing in the new year together after a quick rest.
However, Klein said he would wake up to find Jocelyn Wildenstein had unexpectedly and tragically passed.
‘She died in her sleep very peacefully,’ he told People shortly after he confirmed Jocelyn Wildenstein, who was nicknamed Catwoman for her extensive plastic surgery to resemble feline-like characteristics, had died.
‘It’s very sad. It’s extremely sad. It’s extremely sad to lay down with your other half that I have known for 21 years and waiting to celebrate New Year’s Eve and to find her cold.’
‘We had a nice happy hour the same night and we were getting ready for the new year, and we took a little nap just to look good before getting dressed,’ he said as he recounted the hours before her passing.
When asked about her cause of death, he said that she had phlebitis, a condition that causes a blood clot to form and block one or more veins, often in the legs, per the Mayo Clinic.
‘Because of her phlebitis, the legs were very, very swollen, and the blood was blocked, and there was no oxygen in the brain,’ he explained.
‘And we were having a nap and when I wake up, I said, “Jocelyn, we have to wake up, we have to get dressed,” and she was cold and she was dead.’
He continued: ‘It’s very sad. It’s extremely sad.’
Klein noted that the condition, which Wildenstein’s grandmother also had, did not affect their holiday celebrations in Paris.
He said that her health had been ‘perfect.’
‘We were at the Ritz two days ago,’ he recounted. ‘We were having dinner. Before that, we had come for Fashion Week at Chanel. Everything was good, everything was good.’
About their holiday celebrations up until then, he said it was ‘beautiful.’
‘We were at the Ritz. We were having parties. She was in great shape. She was in impeccable health,’ he told the outlet.
He said they had been spending time in Paris together and she was ‘very happy’ and ‘at the top of her game.’
He also noted that she made a few television appearances during this time and looked ‘extremely beautiful.’
‘Two months ago, she attended the Chanel show. Everyone invited us to dinner. Everyone welcomed her with a red carpet. Paparazzi were following us. It was the return to Paris. We were at the top of our game. Everything was at the top.’
The former billionaire and cosmetic surgery aficionado passed away on Tuesday in Paris from a pulmonary embolism as previously reported.