Callie Rogers was only 16 years old when she scooped a whopping $2.
1 million (£1.8 million). During that time, she was working as a shop assistant at the local Co-op in Workington, Cumbria.
Now 32, single mother Rogers explained to The Mirror that her money has now all gone and she has never felt better. She is now earning just £12,000 a year as a carer and lives in a £500-a-month apartment.
“I am the happiest I have ever been,” she expressed.
The mother-of-three admitted how she felt too young to handle the pressures that come with winning the lottery.
“You are only 16, with all that responsibility,” she said. “At that age, you can get the best advice ever. But you are not in a position to listen. I was too young.
“Overnight I went from carefree child to adult. All these years on, it still gets dragged up.
“Even when I go for job interviews, I am thinking about it.
“I suffer from such bad anxiety when I am going to meet new people. It preys on my mind, what a new partner’s family will think of me, or even new friends. I still get abuse just because of who I am.”
She added: “I did not want that much money. I was in foster care and for the first time in a long time, I was really settled and really happy.
“When they told me it was a £15m jackpot, I thought, ‘I don’t want that much.’ In the end it was shared out and I got £1.85m, but even then it was hard to take in.
“At 16 you do not know what is ahead of you, because by God I did not expect any of that. I asked the Co-op if I could have my old job back.”
She added: “I would give money to distant relatives and friends of friends. I loaned £20,000 here, £13,000 there. I would never get it back.
“People asked for money for new cars and I would help out. I was a soft touch. Now I realise what they were like. I was exploited because of my age. I had a lot of fake relationships.”
She is now calling for the age limit of lottery players to be increased.
What are your thoughts on this? Let us know in the comments section and SHARE this post with your family and friends!