A woman who won $187 million after playing the lottery has explained why she decided to cut off her family in the wake of her lucrative winnings.

Many of us will spend a lot of our time dreaming about winning the lottery and how we would immediately buy multiple houses and jet off across the world.

But while we're daydreaming about living our best lives, it's hard to think about the difficulties that a sudden influx of money can bring.

In August 2012, Gillian Bayford and her then-husband struck gold, winning the EuroMillions lottery and bagging the equivalent of $187.5 million.

Dream come true, right? Well, things soon started going wrong for Gillian.

She revealed to The Sun that she initially shared her fortune, giving approximately £20 million (about $25 million) to family members. Following this, she severed ties with her family and even missed her brother's wedding.

"They have lost touch with where they've come from," she said in an interview, expressing her disappointment with her family's behavior.

Gillian, living in Scotland, shared with the Mirror last month that she immediately started settling debts accumulated by her late father and brother due to failed business ventures.

Her financial support included purchasing an apartment in Scotland for her parents, who were previously living in a caravan.

Nine months into her newfound wealth, Gillian claimed she gave her brother £800,000 (approximately $1 million) to start a new business. However, their relationship took a turn for the worse.

Despite her efforts to provide financial assistance, Gillian disclosed to The Sun that her family relationships had significantly deteriorated and that she no longer communicates with her mother.

Gillian's mother, Brenda McCulloch, expressed sadness over the lack of contact with her daughter and grandchildren. She acknowledged her daughter's generosity but contested the £20 million sum, claiming it was a much lower amount.

"They're rubbing people's noses in it by flashing their cash, which I think is downright nasty," Gillian told The Sun, expressing her frustration with her family's behavior.

The fallout extended beyond blood relatives, as Gillian separated from her husband just 15 months after the lottery win. Adrian Bayford, her ex-husband, described winning the lottery as "stressful," citing the strain it put on their relationship.

Experts, such as Emily Irwin from Wells Fargo, advise lottery winners to consider seeking the help of family-dynamics coaches to navigate the complexities that arise from sudden wealth, per Business Insider.

Irwin emphasized that large sums of money can complicate family dynamics, leading to strained relationships.

So maybe our daydreams about winning the lottery aren't as accurate as reality would be...

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A woman who pranked her husband by telling him they won the lottery managed to manifest up an actual win as they became millionaires just three weeks later,

Charlotte Peart had played a prank on her husband Daniel in 2018, after pretending they'd won a £250,000 ($305,000) jackpot, so when the call came that they'd actually won £1 million ($1.2 million) just a few weeks later, it's fair to say Daniel had his doubts.

His wife had to send him a screenshot showing they had in fact won the life-changing um by matching five numbers on the EuroMillions draw.

In an audio clip that has recently been released, via The Mirror, Charlotte's first reaction to phoning the lottery call center to confirm her win was to burst into laughter before telling the operator: "I think I'm going to cry."

Charlotte, a former admin worker, had initially thought she'd just won £3 ($3.70) on the draw after receiving an email telling her to check her online account, and was gobsmacked to find she was in fact a millionaire.

In the clip of the call, she is heard saying: "I found out this morning. You get emails come through and you’ve won three quid so I left it.

"I thought I would just go on there and check it. I didn’t expect to see six zeros at the end. You don’t see that often. I can’t believe it, I think I’m in shock."

The operator then confirmed that Charlotte had in fact won a million, telling her: "Congratulations, have a good day," to which Charlotte replied: "I’m having a brilliant day, cheers!"

It is now five years since Charlotte's win and the mom-of-three told the publication: "I vividly remember it, I could not stop giggling. It was nerves coupled with shocked disbelief.

"Two weeks earlier I had wound Daniel up that we’d won £250,000 so to call to officially claim £1 million was just crazy."

The 33-year-old had earlier revealed that she'd bought the ticket on a whim with the last £1.50 in the couple's online lottery account.

The pair used the money to buy their dream family home, and the winnings also allowed Charlotte to set up her own small business and spend more time with Daniel and their children, as she admitted: "Without our win, it just wouldn't have been possible."

Daniel, 32, is still working as a carpenter while Charlotte runs her own business, and the pair have two labrador dogs including one called Millie, which is short for "millionaire".

Since the National Lottery launched in 1994, it has created over 7,000 millionaires thanks to its draws, with 375 of them winning in 2022 alone.

Reactions to finding out they've won a life-changing sum can differ greatly, with some bursting into tears, while others ran around the room and some even danced. Anita Pires, who is a call center worker for the lottery, told the publication: "Reactions differ enormously, I’ve heard it all."

I don't know about you, but I'm about to prank all my loved ones by pretending we've won the lottery and hope that my numbers come up a week or two later for real. If it worked for Charlotte, it could happen again.... right?

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In an incredible turn of events, a mother-of-three discovered that she had managed to win £1 million on the EuroMillions lottery, a mere 10 minutes after being told she had beaten breast cancer.

Lynne Price, who hails from New Tredegar in South Wales, was diagnosed with breast cancer back in 2015.

Moments after opening a letter from her doctor saying her scan results were clear, her husband David rushed home from work to announce they had won a fortune.

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In a later interview with British tabloid newspaper The Sun, Lynne stated: "I can't tell you what I said, it's too rude, but I was in total shock. I was shaking and totally lost for words - which never happens. I went and had a bath for two hours and just lay there trying to take it all in."

Meanwhile, her husband David stated: "I went home to tell Lynne but she had some big news of her own. The letter saying she had the all-clear is worth more than a million to me ... We’ve been doing the lottery since it started - you put your money on but you don’t really expect to win a million."

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This story comes just a few weeks after a man from North Carolina won the lottery just after completing his last chemotherapy treatment.  Ronnie Foster, a retired Department of Transportation worker who hails from Pink Hill in Lenoir County, had been battling colon cancer for years and managed to win $200,000 in the North Carolina Education lottery.

In a later interview with CNN, Foster stated: "I bought a $1 ticket and won $5," Foster said. "I decided to trade it in for a $5 ticket. At the last second, I decided to buy two tickets instead of one ... I was already happy because it was my last round of chemo. Winning this made it my lucky day."

Check out this news report all about the man who won the lottery after his last round of chemo:

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Meanwhile, Lynne and David plan on jetting off on a luxury holiday to celebrate their 33rd wedding anniversary, before David will use some of the winnings to attempt to climb Mount Everest.

A woman has taken to social media to reveal that after buying her nephew a "life-changing" winning lottery scratch card, she believes she's entitled to 75% of the winnings.

Sharing her story to Reddit's 'Am I The A**hole?' forum - where a user shares their personal dilemma and other Redditors vote on who is in the wrong - the woman states that despite buying the scratchers as a gift for her nephew, he doesn't need the money and she does.

Writing under the username 'accountforaita33', the woman writes: "I have had a really rough year, laid off from my job and I'm out of unemployment options."

She adds that she has been able to scrape together enough money to own her home, pay her property taxes and insurance - but is "eating ramen just about every meal."

After declaring that she loves her nephew and would be able to get by "on the thought that I wouldn't be able to get him a birthday present", she scraped together some loose change and "bought him some lottery scratchers". To her surprise, he won on two of the cards.

The aunt continues: "One was for about $50 which was cool enough but the second one was actually into the middle 5 figures. I mean life-changing money (I can't say exactly how much because in our state lottery winners are all public record)."

However, despite winning the money, the aunt proclaims that he doesn't need it.

"His parents (my sister and her husband) are very well off. My nephew has a fully funded college fund and every material thing he could ever want," she writes.

Therefore, comparing his situation to her own, she told her sister - her nephew's mom - that it would be "really cool" if he gave her "at least 3/4 of the winnings".

"She asked if I was serious," the aunt writes, adding: "I said I felt I was being very generous because I really need all of it. She actually hung up on me. I texted my nephew and I think he actually blocked me."

The aunt concludes her post by explaining: "Here's the thing, I NEED this money. It's a matter of me eating or not eating. He doesn't. Am I the a**hole for thinking he should share the winnings of the gift I gave him?"

And over in the comments section, people sadly weren't sympathetic to the aunt's personal situation.

One person commented: "It was a gift. You don't get to ask for part of someone's gift. It sucks you're having it tough but still doesn't mean you're 'generous' for asking for only part of the gift. Sure ask them for help, but don't ask for his gift."

A second added: "If he hadn’t won you’d have been out the same amount of money. You were gifting him the chance to win more and guess what? He did.

"If he decides to give you some that’s an awesome, heartwarming gesture - which you’ve totally ruined the chances of by demanding 3/4s. Just try and be happy for him. And reach out to local agencies for help."

And a third Reddit user wrote, agreed, writing: "I feel for your situation, and if I was your nephew, I might have even opted to help you out. However, your expectation of help, 3/4 no less, and subsequently asking your sister for it is super off-putting."

What do you think of the aunt's plight? Let us know in the comments section.

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A woman who achieved everyone's dream of winning the lottery has revealed that it's not all that it's made out to be - and she even wants to sue them for it!

Jane Park, from Edinburgh, Scotland was seen as incredibly lucky worldwide after she won $1 million aged just 17 from the first lottery ticket she ever bought.

I'm sure we're all guilty of daydreaming about what we would spend the money on when (not if) we ever win big - personally, a holiday home in the Caribbean sounds like a dream.

But what is rarely considered is the negative impacts winning a large sum of money can bring into someone's life - as Jane found out all too well.

In an interview with Dr. Phil on January 9, Jane revealed that she believed she was far too young to win the lottery and struggled with death threats, stalkers, and media attention that the lottery brought with it.

She revealed that the initial thrill of winning was fun, but it all went downhill when Camelot, the organizer of the national lottery, pushed for her to go public about her win.

It's a personal choice whether to go public with lottery winnings in the UK. Still, the organizing company told Jane that being a 17-year-old winner is unusual and they wanted to advertise it.

However, her newfound fame and riches came with some adverse events, including being hospitalized after cosmetic surgery left her suffering from sepsis, leading Jane to threaten to sue the company.

"In the UK, it was 18 to gamble and 16 to play the lottery," she explained. "You couldn't put a pound in a machine or couldn't go in the shop and buy cigarettes or alcohol, and you couldn't go into a casino, but you could play the lottery.

"I was basically wanting them to listen, like me calling them up and saying 'you should raise the age'. They were never going to listen and that is why I went massive with it."

Jane campaigned to raise the age to play the lottery to 18, as she described herself as a "naive 17-year-old" when she won a large sum of money.

Since threatening to sue the company and making her voice heard, the age restriction was raised to 18 with Jane saying: "I feel like I've made a massive impact on that."

It would seem like winning the lottery isn't always as glamorous as it appears.

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