Youngest Lottery Winner Wishes She Could Go Back To Her Old Life

Jane left her job as a temp receptionist, and with millions in the bank, she swapped her 9-5 for a two-month vacation to Spain. Her next big purchase would be a house in Prestonpans, Scotland, and she thought needed a chihuahua to go perfectly with her new lifestyle.

The spending didn’t end there, however, and Jane continued to splurge on expensive and lavish items to finally make her dream a reality. Meanwhile, she would soon realize that her former dreams were not exactly what she wanted.

Before claiming her millions, 17-year old Jane was working an $11-an-hour job as a temp receptionist. She lived with her mom in a two-bedroom apartment in Edinburgh, Scotland.

At this time in her life, she would only dream of a life filled with fame and fortune. She imagined how happy this lifestyle would make her and contantly daydreamed about it.

Unclear of how she would ever make her dream a reality, she chose to purchase a lotto ticket on a complete whim. When she heard the winning numbers that week, Jane could not believe what had happened.

She soon realized that she had just won an incredible $1.4 million. What was always thought of as the unthinkable to most had happened to this young 17-year-old. This teenager was now a millionaire, and she had reached her goal of having a fortune.

Having come into such fortune, Jane thought that her life was sorted. She would never have to worry about things again. Bills and debts would not be a problem in her life and, as most 17-year-olds would believe, being so rich would be the ultimate dream come true.

Jane was full of optimism, and she thought her future looked bright. Little did she know that, what all seemed like the best thing to happen to her, would actually become the worst.

Along with her vacation, a new house and a new pet dog, Jane thought she needed some expensive cars. Not just one, of course, as a millionaire, she could afford multiple.

She splurged on a $23,000 Volkswagen Beetle and a $34,000 BMW, but then decided that all good things come in three. Her next purchase was a $25,000 bright purple Range Rover which she had the seats of the inside lined with the colors of her favorite soccer team. Jane was now in a position where she could afford whatever she wanted.

Just as she had the same bank balance as many of the rich and famous, Jane was beginning to live a life just like theirs. She would go out partying every night with friends, making sure they went to the most exclusive places and spending a considerable sum every time.

She didn’t stop there when it came to treating her friends either, and flew them on a five-star vacation to the Maldives. This was the life she always dreamt of, and Jane was finally living the life of a celebrity.

Her spending did not just go on material objects, and Jane spent thousands of dollars on several plastic surgery procedures. She treated herself to a breast augmentation and a Brazilian butt lift, as well as having lip fillers and botox done.

Her entire makeover cost the teenager nearly $70,000, and this was alongside all her new purchases she had accumulated since receiving her winnings. Her world was becoming her oyster, and she spent her money on whatever she saw fit.

At the time, Jane believed this exciting lifestyle was everything she wanted in life. However, the excitement started to wear off, and by the time Jane was 22-years-old, she realized that being rich was not at all like she thought it would be.

She explained, “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. I have material things, but apart from that my life is empty.”

Having gone from securing millions at such a young age, Jane later realized that she had missed being a normal teenage girl. She said that shopping began to become boring, and she longed for the days she worked for a paycheck.

She found that being a millionaire brought her too much stress, and she wished for her life pre-jackpot, expressing, “I wish I had no money most days, my life would be so much easier if I hadn’t won.”

In fact, her grandmother had warned the young teenager following her winnings that it may not all be as she had expected. Jane said, “My nana Anne told me, ‘You might as well have given me a gun.’ I was like, ‘Nana, what are you talking about? This is the best thing ever.’ But now I totally agree.”

Hard for anyone else to believe she would have such a hard time being a millionaire, Jane was showing the realities of what having too much money could do to a person.

Even at her lowest, her personalized Range Rover and her beloved chihuahua named Princess could not bring Jane any happiness. She found that she didn’t have time for her dog, so she gave Princess to her aunt to look after.

As for her personalized Range Rover, she explained, “It was flashy and people were always looking at me. It was far too big.” She was finding that a purple car was not going to bring her happiness, nor was showing off in front of the crowd and being any different.

Since winning the lottery, and exhausting all her fun, she soon realized that she felt deep sadness and loneliness as a result of winning. Having long wished for freedom and wealth, her wish soon turned into her nightmare, and she didn’t even recognize herself anymore.

The person she saw in the mirror was not the Jane she was happy with or enjoyed being. Things got progressively worse, and she sought out speaking to a therapist in her time of need.

Having experienced her fair share of vacations in five-star resorts since winning her millions, she later found she was no longer enjoying them. “Although I’ve been to the Maldives, I much prefer Benidorm in Spain because nobody is looking down at you.”

She continued, “You can drink as much as you want.” Jane expressed that she didn’t feel as though she fit into these luxury resorts and places, and she couldn’t relate to the wealthy people she was now rubbing shoulders with.

Unfortunately, in many cases, people in your life are just after your wealth. Jane learned this the hard way when she realized she was being taken advantage of time and time again by her so-called ‘friends.’

She spread her generosity to friends who claimed they needed help and assistance in life, but she would later find out that they were using this money for other things. Not only was Jane not feeling like herself anymore, but she didn’t even have her friends to turn to.

Jane also found the same problem when it came to her love life. At an age where she is out dating and meeting potential love interests, it never worked in her favor.

The 22-year-old has been in multiple relationships since winning her millions but has realized that men were more after her money than they were for her. These men strived for their 15 minutes of fame with the youngest ever lottery winner, and that certainly was not going to boost Jane’s happiness in her times of loneliness.

Speaking of dating men, Jane has expressed, “I’ve had horrible relationships and it’s left me with a massive guard up. With the last one, I showered him with gifts. I thought it would make him happy.”

Buying expensive gifts or spending money on her friends ended up not working to her advantage, and she struggled to maintain any real relationships with anyone. Since receiving her winnings, Jane’s new life was not at all like she had hoped, and it had somewhat taken a turn for the worse.

At one point, it became public that Jane was dating former X Factor U.K. contestant, Sam Callahan. The pair embarked on a brief romance, but it came to an end when Jane saw Sam kiss another girl in front of her at a party.

Following her relationship with Sam, she began dating 18-year-old Dundee soccer player, Jordan Piggott. As with her former dating experience, it was perhaps questionable as to whether dating another public figure was going to be the best for Jane.

Just as Jane had wished for fortune, she also longed for fame in her dream life. Since her winnings, she managed to reach both fame and fortune. She became a well-known public figure, and the paparazzi would follow her every move, making Jane Park a headline topic.

However, Jane became the subject of ridicule and public scrutiny having constantly been judged by the media and those knowing her story. When she realized being famous was not for her, she wished for her days of anonymity and none of the attention.

Perhaps the fame got too much for Jane and, as a result, it made her behavior change. The young millionaire has had several run-ins with the law, including an arrest for allegedly driving her BMW through a McDonald’s drive-thru while under the influence.

She was also involved in a physical fight with a nightclub security guard, for which she was charged a fine. Speaking of the fight, Jane acknowledged her wrongdoings and expressed, “it’s my own fault. I should have walked away from the situation.”

Just as many of her friends and boyfriends have set their sights on Jane’s lavish lifestyle, so has the public, making Jane Park a social media queen. With over 45 thousand followers on her Instagram page, her social media followers can get an insight into the 22-year-old millionaire’s life.

She loves sharing glamorous photos of herself dressed in provocative outfits and partying at the most elite nightclubs. Followers can even catch a glimpse of images of Jane with her soccer player boyfriend.

Just as many celebrities are victim to it, Jane Park is no different to the negative attention and comments. Across her social media pages, Jane has constantly received harsh comments and messages but that has not stopped her from posting photos of herself online.

Taking to her Twitter page, Jane responded to some of her online trolls by posting a photo of her holding up a lot of cash. Alongside the photo, she wrote the caption, “Read some very nasty comments about myself. So this photo is for all my haters.”

However, that photo was not going to be the end of all the hateful comments, and at one point, the online attention became really bad. As a result, Jane had to hire bodyguards for her own safety and protection.

She had received threatening and frightful messages, including ones from people who said they are going to attack her. Having received this type of abuse from when she was just 17-years-old was scary for the teenager, and she began to see the “dark side” of fame.

All the hateful comments, messages, and media attention caused Jane to have severe social anxiety. She became a target for many and it made the young millionaire not even want to leave the house by herself.

At some points, she did not even want to leave the house at all. She soon found she could not trust anyone and she became overly paranoid by everything around her. At a time when she needed people the most, she was not able to turn to those she had before she became famous.

Jane has not just used the millions to treat herself to luxury goods like clothes, cars and plastic surgery. Rather, she has also used her money to try and help people in need.

However, not everyone was convinced by her generosity. Speaking of one case in particular, she said, “The worst was when I said I’d pay for the travel insurance for a young boy who was sick to go to Florida, and a couple of folks said I was just doing it for publicity.”

While many of her friends and boyfriends betrayed her trust and used her for her newfound fame and fortune, Jane still did have a trusting support system to turn to.

Those that have been there for her before and after her winnings have been her family, and Jane has spoken about how supportive they have been. She is grateful for her loving parents and brothers and sisters who have always been there for her and helped her when things have turned bad.

Along with the troubles she faced since winning the lottery, Jane also stressed about how she was going to share the money with her family. She wanted to share some of her EuroMillions win with her parents and siblings, but since winning this money at 17, it meant she had no idea how much was enough.

“It was hard to decide how much was enough, but not too little. I didn’t know how people were going to take it.” Jane admitted, “That was the most stressful part.”

She may have splurged some of her winnings on buying herself a house, but she soon came to learn that it was too difficult living on her own. Soon after she purchased the big house, she said she started to feel “lonely,” and decided to sell the house and all its belongings.

She later moved back in with her mom in their two-bedroom apartment, and this was more comfortable decision for the teenager. If anything, it was getting back some of her former life.

Moving back to her mom’s house would be the best option for the young starlet. Her mom had to come bring Jane from her house since her anxiety levels were too high for her to be able to live alone.

She convinced herself that people were waiting for her outside her door in hopes of trying to scare her. She had gone from a bright, shiny and happy teenager living a normal life, to a complete nervous wreck. This was all since her winnings and she needed a change.

Fortunately, another aspect of her life that has remained the same is the group of girls she had before she became rich. However, she has expressed how it can be challenging to communicate with them because of their money differences.

“It’s scary how different my life is from my friends’. When they say they’re stressed about money, they mean their wages are horrible.” She continued, “There’s no one in the same boat as me, no one who really understands. I feel like I’m a 40-year-old.”

Many people would just say if her life has become so miserable, why does she not just get rid of the money? In fact, she has been asked this on several occasions, but her response is “What?… Nah.”

Of course, no one would expect the young woman to do such a thing, and Jane does not seem to have any plans on giving the money away anytime soon. Since she won it at such a young age, she has a lifetime to spend it!

As for dealing with her negative emotions, her friends and family have recommended that Jane seeks professional help in therapy to help her cope with all the stress.

Jane’s response, however, was to turn to lawyers instead, and has said that she is planning on filing a lawsuit against UK Lotto bosses, Camelot. Jane claims that winning the jackpot has completely ruined her life and that the company should have never allowed someone so young to be in a position to win such a large sum of money.

Jane’s argument for taking this case to court was that she was not even old enough to drink, so she should not have been old enough to win millions.

During an interview on a UK Television talk show, Jane explained that she felt filing a lawsuit was necessary because, “I just feel like at 17 you are either still in school or just left school, and at that stage in your life where you are deciding what chapter comes next.”

What Jane is hoping to come out of the lawsuit is for the UK Lottery to reconsider their minimum lotto-playing age. Since the legal age in the UK currently stands at 16 to purchase a lottery ticket, Jane expressed, “I think 18 should be the minimum age for winning the lottery.”

While Jane has made her view on the UK EuroMillions company very clear, Camelot has responded to her claims and have stated that they have offered young Jane “ongoing support” since her winnings.

Four years after securing her winnings, Jane has revealed that she is trying to live a more “comfortable” life, and has learned to become more “sensible” with her purchases.

She confessed, “I’m trying to be sensible, I’m trying not to be a stereotypical teen. I want people to look at my life and think something positive has come out of it.” That is not to say that, like any other young lady, she isn’t out and about on shopping sprees!

While many of us dream about winning the lottery, Jane is warning others that being the person to have a winning ticket is not all it is made out to be. If anything, Jane warns young people to wait till they’re older before they play the lottery, and for any future winner to not go public with their winnings.

She said, “I would encourage any young people not to go public, they should listen to what their family says.” She added, “You have to invest wisely.”