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$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> <p> </p>

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Woman appalled as in-laws bill her $280 for a broken glass

<p><span>A mum-to-be was shocked to find that her father-in-law had emailed her a $280 bill for a wine glass she accidentally broke.</span></p> <p><span>The pregnant woman posted on parenting forum Mumsnet to ask others whether it was necessary for her to pay the hefty bill or not.</span></p> <p><span>“Went to PIL’ (parents-in-law’s) home last weekend, had a glass of wine and I accidentally dropped it,” the mum wrote online.</span></p> <p><span>“No big deal, they shrugged it off. I get on well with both FIL (father-in-law) and MIL (mother-in-law), have been with DH (darling husband) for 4 years now and we are having our first child in 4 months.”</span></p> <p><span>The woman explained that her in-laws are “well off… very well off” and that she lives in a rental and is “definitely not as well off”.</span></p> <p><span>“I didn’t know at the time, but said wine glass apparently happens to be pretty high end,” she said.</span></p> <p><span>According to her father-in-law’s email, the glasses cost $280 each.</span></p> <p><span>“FIL has this morning sent me an e-mail saying that I can just transfer the $280 to him or buy the glass online. He even attached a link and included their address, should I not know it by now(!),” she said.</span></p> <p><span>The woman claimed that she thought the email was initially a joke but then remembered that it was out of character for them to have a sense of humour.</span></p> <p><span>She decided to get recommendations on the parenting forum before explaining the situation to her husband.</span></p> <p><span>Most people thought it was “bad taste” for the father-in-law to ask for money.</span></p> <p><span>“Glasses often get broken, so you shouldn’t expect to get the cost of it reimbursed. And if you do expect reimbursement, you shouldn’t use stupidly expensive wine glasses for your guests,” one person said.</span></p> <p><span>However, one person suggested that she should have offered to replace the glass after she broke it.</span></p> <p><span>The woman said she didn’t think about offering to pay for it because they “shrugged it off as nothing”.</span></p> <p><span>“FIL is a bit of a snob in general but MIL is usually lovely so I wouldn’t be surprised if she had no idea about this e-mail,” she said.</span></p> <p><span>“She calls me every day to ask how I am doing and if we need anything whereas this is the first time FIL has initiated contact with me through phone/e-mail.”</span></p> <p><span>Others suggested for her to let her husband know so he could deal with the situation.</span></p> <p><span>What would you do in this situation? Let us know in the comments below.</span></p>

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