As fashion lovers, celebrities and designers mourned the death of Chanel creative director Karl Lagerfeld, some others worried about his beloved cat, Choupette.
Lagerfeld, who died at 85 years old on Tuesday, never married. Instead, his 7-year-old pet was his partner in the latter half of his life. Though he never fell in love with a person, he had different thoughts about his feline companion.
"There is no marriage, yet, for human beings and animals… I never thought that I would fall in love like this with a cat," he told CNN in a 2013 interview.
Closer first reported the death of the German fashion designer on Tuesday at the American Hospital of Paris. His cause of death was not immediately revealed.
It was "love at first sight" for Lagerfeld, who once was a dog person. The two met in 2011 when Choupette's previous owner, French model Baptiste Giabiconi, left her with Lagerfeld to travel and never got her back.
"I found her so cute that when Baptiste came home I said to him, 'Sorry but I'm keeping her!'" Lagerfeld told Numéro in 2016.
Three names used to call for the Birman's attention: Choupette, Princess Choupette and Miss Choupette, Lagerfeld told i.D Magazine in 2014.
Either way, Lagerfeld enjoyed the calm presence. He loved her pretty appearance and poise, and once told The Cut the best thing about her is that she doesn't talk.
Choupette has been living a high-profile lifestyle ever since Lagerfeld adopted her, frequently updating her 124,000 Instagram followers and publishing a book in 2014 titled Choupette: The Private Life of a High-Flying Fashion Cat, where she gives lifestyle advice.
"I'm Daddy @KarlLagerfeld's spoiled @chanelofficial & @fendi pussy whose maids pamper," her Instagram @choupettesdiary captioned.
The Birman has a bedroom, iPad and two maids to answer to her every whim. Choupette has a personal chef that serves her food on Goyard dishes on the same table as Lagerfeld, according to his interview with Harper's Bazaar.
"Even if she sleeps, she doesn't want to be alone. She's like a chic lady, like a kept woman with her personal maid," Lagerfeld said during an interview with CNBC in 2017.
But the white-furred, blue-eyed kitty isn't high maintenance for no reason. Lagerfeld revealed that Choupette made $3.22 million in 2014 from two modeling projects, according to New York Magazine.
Lagerfeld's beloved pet cat inspired many of the prolific designer's couture collection including handbags, phone cases, knitted hats and gloves made from her image.
It is currently unclear who will take care of Choupette and how much she'll inherit from Lagerfeld's fortune.
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