Karl Lagerfeld stole his famously pampered cat, Choupette, and was not ashamed to say so.

“Choupette belonged to a friend of mine who asked if my maid could take care of her for two weeks when he was away,” Mr. Lagerfeld, the designer who died in Paris on Tuesday, told The Cut in 2015.

“When he came back, he was told that Choupette would not return to him,” Mr. Lagerfeld said. “He got another cat who became fat, and Choupette became the most famous cat in the world, and the richest.”

Fans of Choupette, and there are many, need not worry: Mr. Lagerfeld claimed to have taken measures to provide for her after his death. In an interview last year, the late designer said that Choupette, a Birman cat, would inherit some of his fortune.