Karl Lagerfeld was not only a diligent and creative fashion designer, he also knew a lot about marketing. He was not only the first to send models with their cell phones (and thousands of followers) across the catwalk, he also managed to earn his cat millions of dollars. We're talking about Choupette, Lagerfeld's pet since 2011.
The Birman cat is after the death of her master without owner, but by no means destitute there. For her livelihood is well taken care of. The elegant white cat not only has more than 122,000 followers on Instagram, but also millions of dollars in income through a book ("Choupette: From the Life of a Cat on the side of Karl Lagerfeld") and advertising contracts that Lagerfeld completely left to the animal.
"She has her own little fortune, and if anything happens to me, the person who has to take care of her will not suffer," Lagerfeld once said. According to various sources, Choupette is said to have already raised more than three million euros through advertising contracts.
The fluffy cat had entered Lagerfeld's life in 2011. At that time, a friend had asked Lagerfeld's maid to take care of Choupette for two weeks, but never picked it up. This was the beginning of Choupette's rise to the richest cat in the world, Lagerfeld told the magazine Vanity Fair.
And for him, she had become the "center of my world," as the eccentric fashion designer once said. With her elegance, her attitude and her way of moving, she reminds him of the film diva Greta Garbo. At least it was treated like this: Choupette has two maids, a personal chef, an iPad and can choose between meals with meals.
Asked about this, Lagerfeld told SPIEGEL in 2015: "We live in a world where a cat can make more sales than someone who works hard in a factory, which may be unjust, but I can not help it."