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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
National
Sian Traynor & Sara Odeen-Isbister

EuroMillions youngest ever winner explains why she 'wishes she hadn't won lottery'

EuroMillions winner Jane Park has told popular US talk show host Dr Phil she wouldn't wish her win "on anyone".

In the episode, titled 'The Curse of the Lottery', Jane, from Edinburgh, talks about the downsides of her £1million prize.

The now 27-year-old became the youngest person to ever win the EuroMillions jackpot when she drew the winning numbers in 2013 at the age of 17.

Psychologist Dr Phil McGraw mentioned the abuse Jane has received. He said: "You had stalkers, death threats..."

She said: "I wish I'd never won it, I wouldn't wish it on anyone.

"At 17, you aren't even a proper adult, you know what I mean, I was such a young naive 17-year-old as well."

Jane Park appearing on Dr Phil (Dr Phil)

Jane said she was also "encouraged" to go public with her lottery win.

She told Dr Phil: "You can be anonymous, but you are encouraged to go public - they prefer that especially when the case is a bit different.

"So because I was 17 they were like 'oh this is kind of unheard of, you should tell people'."

Jane, who also appeared alongside experts discussing the odds of lotteries and the reasons behind why people enter the game, said that is the only regret of her lottery win.

She said: "I don't regret any of the money that I've spent. My only regret would be going so public."

Jane Park speaking to Dr Phil (Dr Phil)

Jane also says her threat to sue lottery bosses had an impact because they raised the age to play from 16 to 18.

She said: "In the UK, it was 18 to gamble and 16 to play the lottery. You couldn't put a pound in a machine or couldn't go in the shop and buy cigarettes or alcohol, and you couldn't go into a casino, but you could play the lottery.

"I was basically wanting them to listen, like me calling them up and saying 'you should raise the age' they were never going to listen and that is why I went massive with it.

"Since then, that story went very big and they have raised the age to 18 and I feel like I've made a massive impact on that."

Jane has spent a lot of her winnings on cosmetic work (Jane Park / Instagram)
She was just 17 when she scooped the EuroMillions jackpot in 2013 (Jane Park / Instagram)

She described the 'curse of the lottery' like a " dark, twisted fairy-tale" and spoke of the online abuse she suffered because of her win.

She said: "I think there is, like it's a very dark, twisted fairy tale and I think no one actually warns you of it - especially younger people. I was 17."

She added: "I have not even spent all of the money and they seem to think they know more about my life.

"It's hard because when I was younger I read the comments and it affected me and these people have never met me and they've probably never even seen me."

On Friday, Jane announced on Instagram she would be taking part in an episode of the hit TV show, after spending some time in the US.

Jane wrote: "Tomorrow CBS 4pm America, 9pm UK. I know CBS is on fire sticks so that's probably your best bet to watch it, if not the episode will eventually be on YouTube. Aaah could scream."

Before her jackpot win, Jane worked as an office assistant and lived in a council flat with her mum.

The winning ticket was the first lottery ticket she'd ever bought.

Jane Parks has spoken about the downsides of winning the lottery with Dr Phil (Jane Park / Instagram)

Jane has publicly spoken about her lottery win on a number of occasions, including on This Morning and Loose Women, as well as appearing in a BBC documentary called Teenage Millionaire: The Year I Won The Lottery .

While the huge fortune she scooped has transformed her day-to-day life, perhaps the biggest change she's undergone is the makeover she's spent much of her winnings on.

In 2021 it was reported Jane had forked out an estimated £50,000 on cosmetic work.

Jane on This Morning in 2017 (Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)

She suffered an extreme reaction to anaesthetic after undergoing bum lift surgery in Turkey in 2017 that left her face and lips swollen and inflamed.

Jane said she was hours away from fighting for her life with suspected sepsis after the botched op.

She told Dr Phil: "I nearly died."

However, she also revealed she underwent a second Brazilian bum lift after the first done didn't work.

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