A Scottish woman, Gillian Bayford has called out her family members for endlessly demanding money from her since she hit a jackpot.
She became a multimillionaire after winning £148million from a lucky ticket in 2012, she claims her ‘ungrateful family’ didn’t let her enjoy the money.
The jackpot winner said things quickly fell apart after the lucky Euromillions win and her relationship with them collapsed.
Gillian lived in Suffolk, UK with her then-husband Adrian Bayford when she won the life-changing amount and despite giving “£20million” to family members over the next few years it wasn’t enough.
She told The Sun in 2016 that her parents stopped talking to her and eventually dissowned her after she gained attention in the press.
She said: “They are disgusted when I get that kind of attention. They’ve disowned me because I embarrass them. But they’ve been more than happy to take my money.”
The lottery winner revealed how she missed out on an invitation to her brother’s wedding and how she remarried – to Brian Deans, a conman convicted of stealing £13k from Tesco.
In that 2016 interview, Gillian 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.”
Gillian’s parents were broke and lived in a caravan at the time of her win. Her father also had £700,000 in debt, shared with her brother, that they had accumulated through failed businesses.
So, Gillian paid off the debt and bought her father and mother more money so they could buy an apartment in Carnoustie on Scotland’s east coast.
Then, nine months later, her parents asked they give her brother more money, £800,000, for a new playcentre business. But, Gillian says her brother then stopped talking to her and got married in secret.
She added; “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. He splashed the money on a £300,000 house, Audis with private plates, and the wedding.
“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.
“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.”
Gillian said that her dad tried to take control of the money she won, and repeatedly tried to claim a stake in her business.
