I won £450,000 on the lottery – my boyfriend and family are demanding I share it with them
WHEN you win the lottery you expect your life to change for the better – but one woman said it has become a total ‘nightmare’.
She revealed that she bought the ticket on a whim and forgot about it until she watched TV and saw the draw taking place.
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She decided to check her ticket and discovered that she had won the £450,000 ($600,000) jackpot.
Although she thought winning would be a dream come true, she soon realized it wasn’t all it seemed after her parents, sister and boyfriend all turned on her when the money hit her bank.
She said on Reddit: “I never thought winning the lottery would be anything but a dream come true. But here I am, with more money than I ever imagined, and it feels like my life is falling apart.
“I couldn’t believe my eyes: I had won $600,000. At first I was in shock. I called my friend, James*, and he rushed over, just as ecstatic.
“We were both over the moon and dreamed of what we could do with the money. But the dream quickly turned into a nightmare.”
She says her partner soon began scheming with her winnings, even wanting to quit his job to live off her earnings.
He made plans for the money without her consent, including splurging on luxury sports cars and investing in risky ventures.
She remembered telling him to slow down, but he became defensive, claiming she was trying to control everything.
The woman continued: “Then my family got involved. My parents, with whom I have always had a tense relationship, suddenly wanted to reconnect. They started dropping hints about their financial problems and how they could use some help.
“My sister, who has always been jealous of me, outright demanded a share, saying she deserved it for all the times she ‘supported’ me. It felt like they all looked at me differently, like I was now just a bank for was them.”
When she didn’t give in, James started seeing his friends more often and stopped hanging out with her, while her family’s demands started to become more aggressive. Her parents felt they were entitled to her money because they raised her.
She added: “My sister called me greedy and accused me of abandoning my family. I felt trapped and overwhelmed, unable to make anyone happy.
“James and I realized that our relationship had become toxic and was more about money than love and mutual respect. We decided to part ways. He moved out and took some money with him as a parting gift, and I felt a mix of relief and sadness .”
But with her relationships in tatters, she wishes she had never won the lottery because it “destroyed” all the meaningful relationships in her life.
Curse of lotto winners
Despite winning the jackpot, countless British lotto winners have suffered astonishing tragedies and lost their fortunes.
Callie Rogers
Callie became Britain’s youngest lottery winner when she won £1.9 million in 2003.
The 16-year-old from Cumbria gave up her £3.60-an-hour cashier job and started spending money, buying a £180,000 bungalow and a £76,000 house for her mother.
But she ended up spending thousands of dollars on wild parties, three boob jobs and drugs, plus around £300,000 on designer clothes.
Eighteen years after her victory, Callie was revealed to be claiming Universal Credit after losing her fortune.
Michael Carrol
The self-styled ‘King of Chavs’ was 19 when he won £9,736,131 from the National Lottery in November 2002.
The part-time binman, who wore an electronic tag when he bought his winning ticket, immediately bought a £340,000 six-bedroom house in Norfolk.
He spent a further £400,000 on luxury home upgrades and spent £49,000 on a BMW to park in his driveway. Notably, he invested £1 million in Rangers FC shares.
Michael’s wife, Sandra, left him due to his incessant party boy lifestyle and took £1.4 million from the divorce settlement. He had declared bankruptcy in 2010.
Roger Griffiths
Griffiths and his wife Lara earned £1.8 million from the National Lottery in 2005.
The couple quit their day jobs, enjoyed expensive holidays and luxury motorbikes and also spent £800,000 on a converted barn in Wetherby, West Yorks.
After wannabe rock star Roger spent £25,000 making a music record, the couple invested in safer assets, but the global financial crisis struck and left them worthless.
In 2010, their uninsured home tragically went up in flames – and three years later, all their funds dried up.
Lee Ryan
Ex-con Ryan won the £6.5 million jackpot just 17 weeks after the lottery launched in 1994.
It later emerged that he was accused of handling stolen cars and served 18 months in prison after his huge payout.
Once released, he enjoyed his wealth for ten years, even buying a helicopter and a £2 million mansion, but ultimately ended up penniless.
Lee suffered his final blow when he made an ill-fated trip to Kyrgyzstan and invested the last of his profits in real estate, which failed due to an economic crisis.
Gillian and Adrian Bayford
The loved-up couple’s lives changed overnight in 2012 when they raked in a whopping £148million.
But just 15 months after the victory, their eight-year marriage ended, with both parties partly blaming stress for their stunning victory.
Adrian moved in with ex-horse groomer Samantha Burbidge, who eventually ran off with his money, 30 horses, a horse trailer and a car that he gave her as a gift.
Gillian was convicted of attacking her ex-lover Gavin Innes. She then moved on and started dating fraudster Brian Deans, who ended up in jail and last made headlines in 2021 for claiming almost £40,000 in furlough.
Margaret Loughrey
Margaret earned £27 million in 2013, becoming Northern Ireland’s biggest winner at the time.
However, the 48-year-old later admitted that the enormous fortune did not bring her happiness.
She told local media: “Money has only brought me sadness. It has ruined my life.”
Tragically, Margaret, now in her 50s, was found dead in her home in September last year.
Martyn and Kay Tott
The Totts got the shock of their lives when they realized they had won £3 million in 2001 – six months after they bought the ticket.
By the time they saw a call for the winner to come forward, they couldn’t find the ticket.
Computer records in their local Londis showed that Kay had actually bought the ticket.
But a little-known rule that required reporting lost tickets within 30 days meant they would never receive the money, ultimately putting too much strain on their marriage and causing it to break down.
She added: ‘I am alone with my fortune, but I have never felt poorer. My family barely talks to me and I have lost someone I thought I would spend my life with. counselor and a therapist to help me navigate this new reality, but the emotional toll is enormous.
“Winning the lottery was supposed to be a blessing, but it turned into a curse. I wish I could go back to the way it used to be, when life was simpler and relationships were genuine.”
People from Reddit quickly responded to her post, defending her right to do whatever she wants with her winnings and claiming that the relationships she lost weren’t good to begin with.
One person wrote: ‘Money changes things, often in ways we don’t expect. It’s a difficult lesson, but now you know who really has your back. Focus on protecting your mental health and finding real connections that aren’t driven by money. .”
Another commented: ‘Definitely stop telling people how much you have. It seems like you’re taking two very good and good paths: therapy and hiring, or at least consultation with financial advisors.”
“This is why you don’t tell people you won the lottery. Even friends and family can fall apart when it comes to money,” a third wrote.
Meanwhile, a fourth said: “This is why you don’t tell ANYONE about your finances.”
“It wasn’t a curse. It just showed you the true colors of the people in your life,” claimed a fifth.
Someone else added: ‘Sounds like it will improve your life in the long run. It may suck now, but it just shows the true colors of these people.”
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