The World's Most Pampered Cat

By Adam Sherwin
Viva
Choupette. Picture / instagram.com/choupettesdiary

She already has two maids, an Instagram account and access to first-class travel. But Karl Lagerfeld's cat is worth her weight in Whiskas after earning more than £2m from two modelling jobs.

Even Cara Delevingne, the supermodel, is struggling to match the earning power of Choupette the Siamese cat, possibly the world’s most pampered feline.

Lagerfeld, Chanel’s creative director, revealed that his pet raked in £2,172,625 from just two jobs - a collaboration with Japanese cosmetics brand Shu Uemura and a session posing for a Vauxhall Corsa car calendar.

Choupette’s earnings are just light of the £2.4m which Ms Delevingne pocketed last year after a year touring the world’s catwalks.

"She did two jobs and made three million euros last year," Lagerfeld told the New York website The Cut. Choupette's earnings are dwarfed by the $100m (£67m) in commercial deals which internet sensation Grumpy Cat is believed to have accrued. But that is by design. "I don't allow her to do foodstuffs and things like this. She's too sophisticated for that," the designer said of his whiskered muse.

Choupette accompanied Lagerfeld to the launch of his latest Metiers d’Art collection for Chanel in New York, where she enjoyed her own room at the Mercer Hotel, with a maid in attendance.

The cat has provided the German designer, 81, with design inspiration and occasionally delivers words of wisdom to her devotees via Twitter. A book, The Private Life of a High-Flying Fashion Cat, disclosed that Choupette has her own iPad.

Lagerfeld explained Choupette’s singular devotion. “She hates other animals and she hates children,” he said. “She stays always with me and she has two personal maids. They play with her, they have to take care of her beautiful white hair. She is the centre of the world. If you saw her, you would understand.”

“She is kind of Greta Garbo,” the besotted designer said. “There is something unforgettable about her, the way she moves, the way she plays. She’s an inspiration for elegance. For attitude.”

They met through a mutual friend. “Choupette belonged to a friend who asked if my maid could take care of her for two weeks when he was away,” Lagerfeld explained.

“When he came back, he was told that Choupette would not return to him. Choupette became the most famous cat in the world, and the richest.”

- The Independent

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