Jocelyn Wildenstein – self-destruct for love

Jocelyn Wildenstein whose extreme addiction to plastic surgery led to grotesque changes in her appearance has died in her sleep aged 84. As her marriage to a wealthy art collector billionaire started to crumble she hoped to win back his affections by ‘improving’ her appearance and since he had an interest in wild cats on his Kenya ranch she opted for the feline look. ‘By the end her skin was stretched so tightly over her face that she could barely blink and her lips so stuffed with collagen they looked like rubber. The first time Alec Wildenstein saw his newly-sculpted wife, he was said to have screamed in horror. “She seems to think that you fix a face the same way you fix a house”, he complained later.

 During their opulent marriage their spending was obscene – reputedly $1 million a month over twenty years. Despite her massive divorce settlement when the split came, she end up in recent years filing for bankruptcy.

 Born 5 August 1940 in Lausanne, Switzerland, she was not surprisingly a flamboyant Sun Leo conjunct Mars with Pluto also in Leo and her Sun sitting on her Mars/Pluto midpoint. She also had Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus and Algol in Taurus trine Neptune, and in varying squares to her Leo planets – staggeringly Fixed.

  Although Fixed planets dislike change they do incline when in quantity towards extremism and can lead to psychosomatic problems when intractable inner emotional problems are acted out through the body. She tried to change the outside because she couldn’t change the inside. I’m intrigued also by the afflicted Mars.

  Her Mars is conjunct her Sun and square her Saturn, Jupiter and Uranus – which is a volcanic reservoir of bubbling lava. Her Sun on her Mars/Pluto midpoint hints at a tendency to take violent measures. Her Venus/Neptune sits in the same place pointing to illusions and delusions about love and beauty.  Her Venus is also conjunct her Mars/Saturn midpoint suggesting a masochistic streak and again allying a self-destructive impulse and love. Attacking herself brutally all in pursuit of love and beauty.

 Her Solar Arc Mars is exactly square her Sun at the moment which can accompany a ‘shocking’ event.

 Her chart reminded me of Katie Price, an English media influencer, former glamour model, also addicted to cosmetic surgery whose life is in constant financial and emotional chaos.  Born 22 May 1978 she has a Gemini Sun conjunct Algol square Mars Saturn conjunct in Leo with Mercury in Taurus opposition Uranus in Scorpio and possibly a Scorpio Moon. Again hugely Fixed with an angry, afflicted and self-destructive Mars. She also has Venus in Cancer like Jocelyn Wildenstein.

  One motivation in the forcible control of outer appearance must be to bury an inner unworthiness. But part of it may also be a delusional attempt to stave off mortality by refusing to grow old, at least in looks. Beyond weird.

16 thoughts on “Jocelyn Wildenstein – self-destruct for love

  1. Astro-obituaries can seem tasteless and cold, which in one sense is inevitable with astrology’s tendency to look for underlying meanings. ‘Not speaking ill of the dead’ sits uncomfortably with a conflicting desire to get at the truth.
    I remember when Robert Maxwell died and for a day there was a good deal of media slush about how wonderful he was until the reality start to creep in and he was exposed for being corrupt.
    Criticism was heaped on my head when Edward Kennedy died and I wrote critically about him and Chapaquiddick etc. Some Americans were outraged and were clearly having a Princess Diana moment with no negatives being allowed.
    Jocelyn Wildenstein made no effort to avoid public attention when she was alive, quite the reverse, so she was hardly a private citizen.
    If publicizing the horrific consequences of plastic surgery is one of her legacies then well and good.

  2. A post on The Sun chronicled Katie Price’s plastic surgery. In it, it stated that between 2006 to 2016, she might have jumped on the bandwagon of sponsored cosmetic jobs. In 2008, Pluto moved into Capricorn. I think this should also coincide with the rise of influencers and social media. In an era where one can make money or get freebies from anything and everything with no care to morals or values, people get reckless. KP who was so used to going under the knife and needle ended up with a botched job. As Pluto has finally settled in the new sign, it is time for a new business model for influencer. The body do keep score. (someone mentioned a book title many posts ago worth a read)

  3. Interesting.

    And am just noting that Katie Price’s Venus in Cancer is conjunct Jupiter (inflation-Jupiter of breasts-Cancer -as part of increasing the value of your appearance-Venus?)

    Maybe it leapt out at me because I had a breast reduction years ago -partly for comfortableness but partly for aesthetics -and my Venus in Cancer is loosely conjunct…Saturn.

  4. Thank you for your thoughtful response Caroline – and I’m just going to make one more entry because I appreciate Marjorie’s preference for focusing on astrological angles – and I’m not able to offer much of that here. But I have long sympathized with the deceased because I have been stunned by the way the media and public dehumanized her in her life. What was she guilty of? Fashion and beauty crimes? These are capital offenses? Obituary writers generally are mere compilers of popular thought, and very seldom serious, thoughtful historians. How about saluting her for making it to age 84 in spite of the vitriol hurled her way? We are in an age of gob-smacking superficiality and it pains me that she was not treated with the dignity all human beings deserve.

    • Jocelyn was widely bullied for her appearance, no question, and as you say Leslie, lived a long life in spite of this.
      But as a public figure, it would be hard to gloss over her appearance and inclination towards extreme surgery when commenting on her life.
      Similarly, you’d be hard pressed to find an article on Karen Carpenter which doesn’t reference (in some form or other) eating disorders or body dysmorphia.

  5. Well….women – and men – have done various things to improve their appearance for centuries. Why dissect her efforts so soon after her passing? The overriding fact here is that a human being has lived and died. I think we can leave it at that.

    • Leslie, I hear what you’re saying but it’s really no different to an obituary piece, and extreme surgery is what she was famous for.
      For example, the Telegraph obituary headline reads: “Jocelyn Wildenstein, socialite dubbed the ‘Bride of Wildenstein’ for her addiction to cosmetic surgery”

  6. Here is Kate Price’s chart showing the plastic surgery midpoint Mars/Pluto.
    This midpoint aspects Cupido, the face, the appearance and aspects Kate
    by trine. The trine suggests such a surgery would go well in improving her
    appearance.
    https://ibb.co/M56RftS

  7. With these two examples – they were not doing it out of a motivation to preserve what’s there as you’d expect from fixed energy – this is a full on change. The cartoonish massive boobs and the cat face, it’s not just extreme it’s almost dehumanising and a total transformation. Katie Price started very young and it was part of a transformation into a brand “Jordan”.

    For KP I think Mercury is important – a brand to get into the tabloid press to earn money (Mercury in Taurus the only Earth sign, opposite Uranus for “shock” factor).

    Jocelyn I’m unsure of the birth data, but if there is fixed energy involved it was probably in not knowing when to stop, not the initial motivation.

  8. The asteroid Cupido rules your face, your appearance. She has her Sun
    squaring Cupido….the square shows a dissatisfaction with her appearance,
    her face. Now look at the midpoint Mas/Pluto = Sun….Mars is surgery,
    Pluto is change, metamorphosis…..she is willing to undergo plastic surgery to
    change her appearance.
    https://ibb.co/DVsPhxb

  9. Along with all the midpoints Marjorie mentioned , she also has her Venus/Moon midpoint on her MC alongside Pluto in Leo; sextile Ceres – nurture and emotional substance. Her femininity was deep rooted, with any criticism hurting her deeply. Ironically she ended the embodiment of Leo the Lion – a cat!

  10. I think in some individuals these surgeries are a form of self harm. To do this over and over again, to relive the pain and the scarring as is the case with KP, I can only see that as a form of self hatred or punishment , since the results are so disfiguring. Better to invest in some therapy and support.

  11. Indeed, dreadful. Reminds me of that film ‘Death Becomes Her’ which attempted to parody this sort of thing. I remember years ago Jane Fonda noted that all the Hollywood women who resorted to plastic surgery had a history of abuse. The abuse is internalised and normalised and continues even after the abuser has left the scene. It requires really deep therapy and even then is hard to put behind you. I have the hard Sun, Mars, Pluto conj. in Leo and Venus/Jupiter in Leo square Saturn in Scorpio in my 5th and despite huge dissatisfaction with my appearance I would never resort to self-mutilation. In my case I see it as part of the life path of learning to accept one’s self, flaws and all. And to stop looking for external validation.

  12. Bonne Année 2025, Marjorie.
    The writing about Jocelyne Wildenstein, née Perisset is very interesting. This woman was actually born on 7th September 1945 in Lausanne.
    Source: Tribune de Genève (tdg,ch), Le matin.ch, elle.fr, telepro.be, etc.

    • Interesting. Astrodatabank gives 5 Aug 1940 as being the birthday of Alec Wildenstein, not Jocelyn. English media are reporting her age as 84, but media outlets elsewhere say 79

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