Britain’s youngest EuroMillions winner says that her 2013 win didn’t bring her happiness in fact, the whopping jackpot ruined her life.
Jane Park, who was only 17 at the time of her stupendous win, recently appeared on an episode of the American talk show Dr. Phil and discussed the horrors of winning that biggest lottery ticket around ten years ago.
Park appeared in the episode, The Curse of the Lottery, with some other experts and discussed the downsides of winning massive jackpots and lottery tickets.
The Edinburgh native said that she was only 17 at the time when she won the £ 1 million windfall, and people of that age group should even be allowed to enter lottery competitions, let alone win them.
“I splashed out a bit because I never knew the value of a million pounds, I’d never seen that kind of money,” she told host Phil McGraw.
“I never knew anyone with that kind of money, so I kind of splashed out on stuff that I’ve always wanted.”
Dr. Phil asked Jane how she handled the fame and the consequences that came along.
“You had stalkers, death threats, people hiding in the bushes and commenting on everything you were doing, which when you’re 17 that kind of gets under your skin.”
“I wish I’d never won it, I wouldn’t wish it on anyone,” she replied.
McGraw then explained that Park had spent a lot of money on multiple cosmetic surgeries and beauty treatments which couldn’t be possible if she didn’t win the lottery.
“I had a procedure done in a different country and when I flew back I ended up with sepsis.”
The 27-year-old influencer said she spent an entire month in the hospital recovering.
“I literally thought that I was going to die. I don’t know what was wrong with me and they said to me I’d had a reaction to the anesthetic.”
“I don’t regret any of the money I’ve spent, my only regret would be going so public,” she said.
The psychologist then mentioned an offensive comment that Park received last year where people called her stupid and discussed her life decisions.
Jane responded, “These people seem to think they know more about my life, and it’s hard because when I was younger obviously I read the comments and they affected me.”
“These people have never met me, they’ve probably never seen me.”
The influencer said that in the past few years, she had raised awareness about lottery tickets and how the age limit should be increased from 16 to 18.
“I called Camelot and told them I thought they should raise the age,” she told Phil. “And now that they have raised the age to 18. I feel like I made a massive impact on that.”
When she was asked about the curse of the lottery concept, the British influencer said, “It’s a very dark fairy tale that I think no one actually warns you about.”
“This is not the first time that Jane has spoken publicly about her lottery win, having appeared on programs including This Morning and Lose Women,” Daily Mail reported.
“When she won the lottery in 2013, Jane vowed to spend it on a customized white Range Rover, a season ticket for her beloved Hibernian, and a holiday in Ibiza with her friends. She later returned to working in a chip shop, saying that she preferred a ‘working routine’ to a life of leisure.”
In another interview with Sunday People in 2017, Jane said that when she won the prize, she thought her life would become ten times better, but it became ten times worse.
“I wish I had no money most days. I say to myself, “My life would be so much easier if I hadn’t won,” she said.
“People look at me and think, ‘I wish I had her lifestyle, I wish I had her money.’ But they don’t realize the extent of my stress.”
She also discussed the struggle of finding a boyfriend who wasn’t after her money.
“I was sick of shopping for designer items and missed cheap Benidorm holidays,” said Parks. “I dumped my ex-boyfriend, Mark Scales, in 2015, who was a ‘snake’ and was after my money.”
“My relationship with Connor George also ended in 2016 after I issued him a list of rules before he went on lads’ holiday to Ibiza. I have material things but apart from that my life is empty. What is my purpose in life?” she said.
The British influencer has an Instagram account with 218K followers and is also very succesful on OnlyFans.
“In 2019, I was making money by selling racy topless pictures of myself on OnlyFans,” Jane told This Morning
“And then my family intervened and stopped me from blowing my entire fortune. It is very easy to spend the money and once you become aware that it is yours and how much you have got it becomes even easier.”
What are your thoughts about Jane’s story? Do you agree that youngsters below 18 years of age should not be allowed to win lottery tickets? Let us know in the comment section.
Sources: Daily Mail