A EUROMILLIONS winner has told how winning a £148million jackpot ruined her life.
Gillian Bayford scooped the whopping sum with her then-husband Adrian Bayford in 2012 – but things soon turned sour.
Andrew Styczynski – The SunGillian Bayford grabbed a £148million jackpot which she shared with her then husband Adrian in 2012[/caption]
In a tragic twist, the pair separated just 15 months after being announced as winners.
And soon her relationship with her family followed – as despite giving them £20, they stopped speaking to her.
She said that her dad tried to take control of the money she won, and repeatedly tried to claim a stake in her business.
Speaking to The Sun back in 2016, she said: “It’s upsetting and raw. The money was supposed to make everybody happy. But it’s made them demanding and greedy.
“They (my family) have lost touch with where they’ve come from.”
Mrs Bayford, who lived in Haverhill, Suffolk, at the time of the win, said she immediately helped her father and brother by paying off their £700,000 debts, which accumulated after a series of failed business ventures.
She then gave her father and mother Brenda, 66 – who were living in a caravan at the time – more money so they could buy an apartment in Carnoustie on Scotland‘s east coast.
But Mrs Bayford said it was only nine months later that her parents asked her to give Colin even more money.
She agreed and gave him £800,000 for a new playcentre business – but she says he then stopped talking to her and even got married in secret.
Gillian, who lived in Haverhill, Suffolk, when she won the jackpot, said her parents were broke and living in a caravan at the time.
She said: “My dad and brother had debts of £700,000 on the day we won.
“That was the first thing we paid for.
“Adrian’s family had to wait weeks but my parents and brother were first.
“They got their cars and houses before anyone.”
Brother Colin has a £288,000 house, drives Audis with private plates and married his girlfriend without telling Gillian.
She said: “I can hold my head up because I know I’ve taken them out of a situation.
“They brought our name into disrespect in the village and we had people threatening to torch the family house.
“My dad and brother built up one company after another and then closed them down.
“I’ve bailed them out of every debt.”
Gillian, who now lives in Dundee, said: “They have lost touch with where they’ve come from.
“They’re rubbing people’s noses in it by flashing their cash, which I think is downright nasty.”
She said they fell out with her because of a story in the paper which embarrassed her parents.