A EUROMILLIONS winner has revealed that her relationship with her family collapsed after the big win.
Gillian Bayford scooped £148million from a lucky ticket in 2012, but things quickly fell apart with her nearest and dearest.
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The Scot lived in Haverhill, Suffolk, 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 a rift appeared in the family.
Her parents stopped talking to her after she gained attention in the press, she told The Sun in 2016.
She said: “They are disgusted when I get that kind of attention.
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“They’ve disowned me because I embarrass them.
“But they’ve been more than happy to take my money.”
She says that she even missed out on an invitation to her brother’s wedding.
Gillian also remarried – to Brian Deans, a conman convicted of stealing £13k from Tesco.
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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.
“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, she said.
Gillian said: “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.”
She said that her dad tried to take control of the money she won, and repeatedly tried to claim a stake in her business.
Gillian, who now lives in Dundee, claimed: “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.”
She said they fell out with her because of a story in the paper which embarrassed her parents.
In an interview with the Mirror in 2016, Bayford’s mother, Brenda McCulloch, described feeling “sad” about the lack of contact with her daughter and grandchildren.
She said that while her daughter was “incredibly generous,” she disputed the £20 million sum, claiming it was a much lower amount they were given.
Gillian also separated with her husband Adrian just 15 months after winning the prize.
Adrian told The Daily Mail in 2013 that the pair had split because they hadn’t spent any time together as a couple – with him working on maintaining their Georgian mansion.
He said: “When you win the lottery it’s so stressful.
“I’ve worked so hard on those grounds [at the mansion], I’ve not had a break, we’ve never had time together as a couple.
“I mean you cannot change what’s happened. It is just something that happened. But we’re great friends, we’re still getting on.”
In 2021, Gillian gave birth to a lockdown baby at the age of 48 after remarrying Brian Deans in 2018.
She said: “Some things are easier because of the money but it doesn’t really change anything. You still have to change a nappy or deal with her being sick on you regardless of how much you’re worth.”
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Gillian now runs a property firm near her Dundee home.
In 2016, she also helped the family of a disabled boy buy and convert a home.
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