A LUCKY Lotto winner has told how she was sick for weeks because of the “stress” of winning £6million.
Viv Moss, from Newquay, says she lost a stone in weight in the two weeks after finding out about her huge win in 1998.
PA:Press AssociationViv Moss and her husband Kevin after their big win 23 years ago[/caption]
Viv stayed in her job for a year after scooping the massive jackpot – because she did not want to put pressure on her colleagues
But eventually she and her partner Ken used their winnings to retire early and move to Cornwall.
However, it wasn’t all plain sailing – as Viv recalls the win as a hugely stressful event.
She said: “The shock of winning was like an unexpected death.
“I had sickness and diarrhoea for a fortnight, and lost a stone in weight, going from a size 16 to a 12.
“I taught hair and beauty at a local college, but I couldn’t let the class down, so I carried on working for eight months until the end of their course.”
Once she recovered, splashed out on her beloved labrador Stanley.
She explained: “We went from a four-bed home to a five-bed, and drove our Ford Escort to a Range Rover showroom.
“The salesman was called Rupert and when we told him we’d pay cash, he said ‘You’ve either just won the Lottery, or sold a business.’
“We told him we had hit the jackpot. I swapped my eight-year-old Ford Focus for a convertible, but the dog didn’t like the wind in his ears, so I later chose a Bentley instead.”
However, their first purchase after the win was far from luxury.
Viv told CornwallLive: “The trouble is, old habits die hard. The first thing we did was go out and buy a very expensive kettle.”
“We were given £500 to tide us over while the rest came through.
“But at the end of four weeks, we still had the £500 because we didn’t know what to do with even that.”
It comes after a EuroMillions lottery winner who scooped a whopping £108million jackpot revealed the first things he bought.