Callie Rogers' life has never been the same.
After becoming Britain's youngest lottery winner when she hit the jackpot as a 16-year-old in 2003, she was hounded by friends of friends for handouts and became the subject of sick rumours about a drug addiction.
She won £1,875,000 - about $3.6 million NZ dollars.
Now 32 and a mother, Rogers says she wishes she never bought a ticket in the first place, news.com.au reports.
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.She told the Today show she splurged on things she didn't need, gave money to people who didn't deserve it and, basically, acted like any teenage instant millionaire would.
"There was quite a few different people who spoke to us but at that age (about how to invest the money) but you don't have any concept of that amount of money or what to do with it," she said.
"First thing I bought was houses for myself and some of my family, and cars, and just mainly gifts for other people.
"I liked being able to help my family and doing stuff for people I cared about, but I wanted to just go back to work and live my normal life again."
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.She said it was "weird" going from a 16-year-old child to living a carefree life.
"All of a sudden I couldn't open my front door with photographers and stuff being there and, obviously, you have people begging for money, friends who weren't friends before wanting to be your friends."
She was asked about rumours that she became addicted to cocaine. But the 32-year-old said what started as a rumour spiralled out of control and suddenly everyone believed it.
"It was in the papers — that story about the drugs only got printed because one of my ex-partners, he tried selling a story about me to say that.
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"[Saying] that's what I had done, when I hadn't. He was going to get a lot of money off it. It was easier for me to admit it so he didn't make any money out of me at the time and, obviously, I didn't realise it was going to be a big story and it has continued to live with me 17 years on.
"I was like any other teenager, I had done what other teenagers had done back then."
She said it was "just fake news".
"You know, there was quite a lot of stories in the papers which wasn't the truth at the time, and that was one of the biggest things that hurt me," Rogers said.
Asked what she has left from the jackpot prize, Rogers said she had one property and a lot of life lessons.
"Yeah, I still — I bought my grandparents' house, which I still own, which is left in a will, and that's something for my children in the future. And other than that, I've got all the life experience with it, to be honest, which made me who I am today, which I'm quite proud of."
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.In an interview with British tabloids earlier in the month, Rogers revealed how she spent some of the money.
"I would give money to distant relatives and friends of friends. I loaned £20,000 ($38,000) here, £13,000 ($25,000) there. I would never get it back," she told The Mirror.
"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 now works as a carer, earning £12,000 ($23,000) a year but says she's happier now than when she had plenty of cash.
She is now pushing for the UK Government to increase the legal gambling age to 18 so no other child has to go through what she did.
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