In August 2012, Gillian Bayford and her then-husband Adrian Bayford won $187.5 million in a EuroMillions lottery.
However, 15 months after the huge win in the lottery, the couple separated ways. Adrian Bayford revealed in a report in 2013 that the win was “stressful” and the stress of managing caused them to spend little time together.
Not only did her ties get severed with her ex-husband but also with her family.
It was reported that Gillian gave roughly £20 million–about $25 million–to her family members but has had to cut ties with them.
She alleged that her father tried to take control of the money that she won despite her helping them.
“They have lost touch with where they’ve come from,” she said of her family in an interview.
After winning the lottery, Gillian started paying off debts that her family accumulated.
She told the Mirror last month that she had paid off the equivalent of $887,079 in debt that her father, who died in 2021, and brother owed due to failed business ventures.
Gillian, who lives in Scotland, claimed that she even purchased an apartment in Carnoustie for her parents, who had been previously living in a caravan.
Her parents pushed her to give money to her brother nine months after receiving the prize money. She obliged the request and gave him £800,000, or about $1 million, to start a new playcenter business.
However, according to a report, soon after this happened, the brother stopped talking to her. He even had a wedding to which Gillian wasn’t invited to.
Gillian then revealed that their relationship dramatically deteriorated even after offering her family financial help.
The Times of London reported in 2016 that she no longer speaks with her mother. She fell out with her parents because, she claimed, she was an embarrassment to them.
Gillian’s mother, Brenda McCulloch, described feeling “sad” about the lack of contact with her daughter and grandchildren in an interview back in 2016 with Mirror.
Brenda said that even if her daughter was “incredibly generous,” the £20 million sum was a much lower amount that was given to them.
Gillian said to The Sun regarding her family, “They’re rubbing people’s noses in it by flashing their cash, which I think is downright nasty.”
In an earlier interview with The Sun 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.”
Other POP! stories you might like:
Hollywood director bets budget for series production on crypto, earns more in return
‘Marriage is a piece of paper’: Diego Loyzaga’s recent statement sparks discussion among Filipinos
70-year-old artist keeps tradition alive as Taiwan’s last hand-painted movie billboard painter
