Karl Lagerfeld may be gone, but his beloved cat will still be living in the lap of luxury.
The late fashion designer and creative director at Chanel, LVMH-held MC, -0.22% Fendi and his eponymous line, who died in Paris at the age of 85 on Tuesday, will reportedly leave a portion of his fortune worth as much as $300 million to Choupette, the 7-year-old white Birman cat with piercing blue eyes that he has publicly doted upon.
Thank you everyone for your words of condolence. With a once cold but now simply broken heart, I am going into mourning. I pray that your kind words and well-wishes will help me to put my best paw forward in my future without Daddy @KarlLagerfeld & as my own woman. pic.twitter.com/YdUCcfSbQR— Choupette Lagerfeld (@ChoupettesDiary) February 20, 2019
Meet #Choupette, the cat set to inherit Karl #Lagerfeld‘s £150m fortune pic.twitter.com/hgQu9yyyEa
— Jake Turner (@Astro_journey) February 21, 2019
Lagerfeld told Numero magazine last year that he had named Choupette as an heir to his fortune, “among others, yes,” adding, “don’t worry, there is enough for everyone.” And French newspaper Le Figaro noted that she could be entitled to his fortune under German law, where Lagerfeld is from, if she had in fact been named as his heir. (He did previously tell the paper that Choupette “has her own little fortune. She is an heiress.”)
The fancy feline is indeed flush in her own right. Choupette was also the muse for Lagerfeld’s 2015 “Choupette in Love” fashion collection; the book “Choupette:
Other pet parents have left their dogs and cats with plenty of scratch upon their deaths. Billionaire real estate and hotel magnate Leona Helmsley famously stiffed her grandsons to leave $12 million to her Maltese, aptly named Trouble, in 2007.
A judge later reduced the pampered pooch’s inheritance to $2 million, according to the New York Times, ruling that the total sum exceeded what was necessary to care for the dog. Trouble was left with a $190,000 annual allowance that covered a security team ($100,000 yearly), grooming ($8,000), food ($1,200) and medical expenses ($2,500 to $18,000) until he passed in 2010.