Karl Lagerfeld's Cat Choupette Celebrated Her 11th Birthday With Champagne and Cake on a (Grounded) Private Jet

It's a...cat's life.

Karl Lagerfeld attends the 'Corsa Karl Und Choupette' Vernissage on February 03, 2015 in Berlin, Germany
(Image credit: Photo by Franziska Krug / Getty)

I write a whole lot about royals. The British. The Spanish. The Monegasques.

But today, I'm delighted to write about an entirely different—ahem—breed of royalty: the late Karl Lagerfeld's Birman cat, Choupette.

The kitty has turned 11, and she celebrated more lavishly than you will ever get to: on a (grounded) private jet, with balloons, a cake, champagne, flowers, and tons of Karl Lagerfeld branded goodies.

"Happy birthday to me," Choupette wrote on her official Instagram account.

"Thanks to @mypetagency for organizing this little party as well as to @ibcaviation for providing a jet, which stayed on the ground at le Bourget, I specify, in memory of the many trips with my daddy

"Thanks to @karllagerfeld and @lucybalu for these many gifts!!!"

A post shared by Choupette Lagerfeld (@choupetteofficiel) (opens in new tab)

A photo posted by on

Choupette now belongs to Françoise Caçote, who used to be Lagerfeld's housekeeper and now evidently works as the cat's ghostwriter. The pet is also rumored to have inherited the late designer's fortune, according to W, which could explain the Ruinart.

Clearly, Choupette has continued to live the charmed life she led with the Chanel designer after he sadly passed in 2019.

Though celebrity pets are all likely to be very pampered, it's hard to imagine any have it as good as Choupette did and does.

In 2014, the cat debuted a collab with Shu Uemura, which included falsies and nail polish. She also had a team of dedicated staff and an iPad, for some reason.

Then in 2015, Choupette kicked it up a notch with the announcement that she had made a cool 3 million euros the year before.

"She is the center of the world," her owner said at the time. "If you saw her, you would understand. She is kind of Greta Garbo. There is something unforgettable about her, the way she moves, the way she plays. She's an inspiration for elegance. For attitude." Well, damn.

Iris Goldsztajn
Iris Goldsztajn

Iris Goldsztajn is a London-based journalist, editor and author. She is the morning editor at Marie Claire, and her work has appeared in the likes of InStyle, Cosmopolitan, Bustle and Shape. Iris writes about everything from celebrity news and relationship advice to the pitfalls of diet culture and the joys of exercise. She has many opinions on Harry Styles, and can typically be found eating her body weight in cheap chocolate.