Karl Lagerfeld and Choupette: the Birman who inherited part of the Chanel myth

In December 2011, the model Baptiste Giabiconi asked Karl Lagerfeld to look after a four-month-old kitten over the Christmas break. Lagerfeld agreed out of obligation. Two weeks later, giving her back was no longer on the table: the Birman had settled into his Paris residence on the rue de l'Université with two dedicated keepers, a gourmet diet served on Goyard porcelain, and her own iPad. Choupette never left the apartment.

When Lagerfeld died in February 2019, he stated publicly that his wish was for Choupette to be cared for comfortably for the rest of her life, with no confirmed figures but with provision documented in later accounts. Choupette is still alive as of this guide. She turns fourteen in August 2026 and lives with Françoise Caçote, one of her longtime keepers.

The breed she wore

Choupette is a Birman, also called the Sacred Cat of Burma, not a Burmese, which is a separate breed entirely. The mix-up is common enough in the press to be worth clearing up: the Birman has the famous white "gloves" on all four paws, deep blue eyes, and a semi-long cream coat with colorpoint markings on the face, ears, tail, and legs. The Burmese, by contrast, is short-haired and has no gloves.

Choupette showed the classic seal point variety of the Birman, a cream body with dark, almost black chocolate points. Medium-length coat, a plumed tail, sapphire eyes. The breed has Burmese origins (hence the name) with a documented monastic legend, and the CFA recognizes it as a championship breed in the US (TICA recognizes it as well).

Choupette's routine in the Lagerfeld household

Patrick Mauriès and Jean-Christophe Napias published Choupette: The Private Life of a High-Flying Cat in 2014 (Thames and Hudson), an authorized book compiled with Lagerfeld's own input. Much of the verifiable detail comes from it:

Two full-time keepers: Françoise Caçote and Marjorie. One slept in the house every night in a room next to Lagerfeld's. The other covered the day.
A daily handwritten log: Caçote recorded what Choupette had eaten, her mood, and her play each day. Lagerfeld asked that it be kept on paper.
A gourmet diet prepared by the household chef, rarely commercial food: turkey, chicken, salmon, tiny amounts of foie gras. A feline veterinarian oversaw the regimen (Mauriès, 2014).
Baths three times a week with professional products. The breed needs upkeep for its medium-long coat, though not as often as a Persian.
No outdoor access. She lived strictly indoors, which is typical for urban Birmans for reasons of both breed and safety.

The nine million followers

The Instagram account @choupetteofficiel reached 9 million followers at its 2014-2015 peak. Lagerfeld said openly that Choupette earned income of her own:

Vauxhall Adam 2014 campaign: the cat appeared in the carmaker's advertising.
Shu Uemura product line: a "Shupette" capsule makeup collection in 2014.
Opening Ceremony collaboration on its Resort 2015 collection.
A registered brand image under the Karl Lagerfeld label.

In a 2013 CNN interview Lagerfeld said: "I never thought I would fall in love like this with a cat." The media franchise grew so large that Choupette ran in Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, Numéro, and Vanity Fair with profiles of her own.

The legacy after 2019

Karl Lagerfeld died on February 19, 2019, at the age of 85. The detailed will has never been made public (German citizenship at birth, French residence, several jurisdictions). What is documented:

Françoise Caçote took over Choupette's primary care, in the Paris home.
A lifetime provision documented through arrangements in the Lagerfeld circle, per statements from Caçote and brand representatives, with no official figure published.
Choupette kept traveling occasionally by private jet from 2019 on, attending some events for the label that bears the designer's name.

The popular claim that "Choupette inherited 200 million" has never been confirmed by official sources and is best treated as media amplification. What is verifiable is that the cat lives in material conditions far above any ordinary pet's, funded through an arrangement whose exact legal structure is not public.

What the story says about Birmans

The Birman bonds intensely with people. It is sociable, moderately vocal, and bright. Choupette fits the standard profile: tolerant of demanding owners, suited to indoor life when given enrichment (toys, a window, human presence), with a documented lifespan of 14 to 18 years under good care.

It is also one of the cat breeds where the prevalence of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is notable, though without a characterized causal mutation yet, unlike the Maine Coon or the Ragdoll. Responsible breeding includes periodic echocardiography for breeding cats and for cats from about two years of age. The AAFP and ACVIM both flag HCM as the most common heart disease in cats.

Why the story matters

Beyond the fashion anecdote, Choupette became a case study on the legal status of companion animals. The public argument over whether a cat can "inherit" fed into a broader debate about animal trusts. In the US that figure already exists: all 50 states recognize the pet trust, a legal instrument that lets an owner set aside funds and name a trustee to care for a named animal after the owner's death. California Probate Code section 15212 is one well-known example, and the Uniform Trust Code provides a model that many states adopted.

A cat cannot own property or receive an inheritance directly under US law, the same as in France. The pet trust solves this by holding the money on the animal's behalf, with a human trustee and an enforcer. Choupette's situation, a wealthy estate funding an animal's care through a private arrangement, is exactly the scenario these statutes were written to handle.

The verifiable facts, in one table

Fact	Confirmation
Choupette's breed	Seal point Birman (Mauriès, 2014)
Year she joined the Lagerfeld home	December 2011
Keepers	Françoise Caçote and Marjorie (Mauriès, 2014)
Year she entered commercial campaigns	2014 (Vauxhall, Shu Uemura)
Karl Lagerfeld's death	February 19, 2019 (NYT obituary)
Status in 2026	Alive, in Françoise Caçote's care in Paris

What to take from it

Choupette is a fashion footnote and, at the same time, a clean illustration of how money, law, and a single animal intersect. The myth says she inherited a fortune. The record says she was provided for, well beyond the standard any pet receives, through a structure her owner set up before he died. For US readers, the pet trust is the legal tool that turns that kind of intention into something enforceable.