Jocelyn Wildenstein’s Partner Lloyd Klein Remembers ‘Love of My Life’ After Her Death: ‘I Miss Her Every Half Second’

Lloyd Klein is opening up about the recent death of his longtime partner Jocelyn Wildenstein, the Swiss socialite known by some as “Catwoman” because of her extreme plastic surgeries.

In an interview with Page Six published on Sunday, Jan. 12, the French fashion designer described Wildenstein — who died in her sleep while taking a nap on Dec. 31 at the age of 84 — as “the love of my life.”

“She was fabulous. She was the love of my life. I miss her every half second, and I still think I’m in a nightmare right now,” Klein said.

Klein also spoke to the outlet about the public scrutiny Wildenstein received over her appearance — particularly regarding her cosmetic surgeries — suggesting she was perhaps ahead of her time.

“Today, you walk in New York and Palm Beach or L.A. and everyone has done surgery,” he said. “There are a bunch of Jocelyns there, but maybe she was the first one doing what she did.”

“Jocelyn doesn’t deserve to be ridiculed,” he continued. “People need to have respect for a human being. They say such nasty stuff.”

The creative director went on to recall Wildenstein’s sense of humor and her ability to poke fun at her public persona.

“It was nasty to call her Catwoman, but in the end, we were laughing,” he told the outlet, recounting a time when she was attempting to make a restaurant reservation over the phone, but the person on the other end of the line couldn’t understand her accent.

“ ‘I want the table for Catwoman!’ “ Klein says Wildenstein eventually proclaimed, adding, “She had a sense of humor that was out of this world.”

Klein told Page Six that the pair even sometimes read comments about her looks online “and just [had] some bubbles [champagne] and laugh” — though he noted, “I don’t know if she was hurt.”

In an exclusive conversation with PEOPLE following the socialite’s death, her longtime partner reflected on their final days and hours together, noting that Wildenstein died while they were lying down for a nap.

“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 recalled.

“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.”

“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.”

At the time, Klein noted that Wildenstein suffered from phlebitis, a condition that Healthline describes as inflammation of a vein that may be caused by damage to the vein wall or blood clot.

“Because of her phlebitis, [her] legs were very, very swollen, and the blood was blocked, and there was no oxygen in the brain,” he said.

“We were at the Ritz two days ago. We were having dinner,” he continued. “Before that, we had come for Fashion Week at Chanel. Everything was good, everything was good.”

Wildenstein was born Jocelyne Périsset in Lausanne, Switzerland, in 1940. In 1977, she eloped with French art dealer Alec Wildenstein, though they split in 1997 and a high-profile divorce ensued. The pair shared two children, Diane and Alec Jr.