$280 million lotto winner cuts ties with "greedy" family
<p>Scotland resident Gillian Bayford went from rags to riches in an instant when she won the equivalent of a $278.36 million jackpot in August 2012. </p>
<p>Thinking luck was finally on her side, Bayford didn't expect the amount of drama that came with the life-changing prize. </p>
<p>It all began just 15 months after her lucky win with then-husband Adrian, who she split with allegedly due to the stress of managing the jackpot. </p>
<p>Not long after, she spent $1,324,304 to pay off her family's debt, which included money that her late father Ian McCulloch and her brother Colin owed over a series of failed business ventures according to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/woman-won-187m-lottery-severed-ties-greedy-family-2023-12" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em>Business Insider</em></a>. </p>
<p>“My dad and brother built up one company after another and then closed them down,” Bayford said. </p>
<p>“I’ve bailed them out of every debt.”</p>
<p>She continued to keep her family financially afloat spending a total of $37.31 million on them, and even bought her parents - who were broke and living in a caravan at the time - a $522,388 penthouse apartment in eastern Scotland. </p>
<p>But, according to the <em>Mirror</em>, that wasn't enough and her father insisted that she should give her brother around $1.5 million, for a new play-centre business. </p>
<p>She obliged, and instead of thanking her, Colin now drives Audis with private plates, owns a $546,000 house and reportedly stopped talking to his sister. He even got married to his girlfriend without inviting Bayford to the wedding. </p>
<p>“They have lost touch with where they’ve come from,” Bayford told <em>The Sun</em>.</p>
<p>“They’re rubbing people’s noses in it by flashing their cash, which I think is downright nasty.”</p>
<p>At one point her father even tried to take control of her winnings and even take a piece of her business. </p>
<p>“It’s upsetting and raw,” she told the publication. </p>
<p>“The money was supposed to make everybody happy. But it’s made them demanding and greedy.” </p>
<p>She added, "they brought our name into disrespect in the village, and we had people threatening to torch the family house.”</p>
<p>Bayford said that despite it all she takes pride in herself "because I know I’ve taken them out of a situation.”</p>
<p>The lotto winner officially cut ties with her family in 2016 after they called her an embarrassment, while her mum Brenda McCulloch claims she’s heartbroken over the lack of contact with her daughter and grandchildren.</p>
<p>“Gillian says that we didn’t try and get in touch with them, but if I’d tried she wouldn’t have let me,” she said. </p>
<p>Her mum also claimed that while her daughter was “generous,” the actual amount she gave her family was much lower. </p>
<p>“Every word that comes out of their mouths is a lie. I wish them a happy life, but there will be no reconciliation now," Bayford refuted. </p>
<p><em>Image: Getty</em></p>
